The Pots n' Pans Band

You will need:

- pots, pans and/or bowls of different sizes
- wooden, plastic and/or metal spoon

This is an activity that's fun for babies and toddlers, as they love making a lot of racket! The simplest and easiest way to go about this is to turn your pots, pans or bowls (metal, iron, plastic, thick glass - for a variety of sounds) upside down in a half circle around your baby, and give him a wooden or plastic spoon, or both, and let him have at it. This simple form of your baby's one man pots and pans band teaches him cause and effect, hand-eye coordination, and fine tunes his hearing, but there are other ways to have fun with your pots and pans too.

If you have a baby around six months old who your laying this homemade drum set out for, remember to show your baby how to hit the objects to make noises and then encourage him to try for himself, as he probably won't have had much experience banging around on things like an older baby would. Remember to applaud your little one when he learns something new and reassure him that your his number one fan to build his confidence. You can also give your baby two lids from your pans set and show him how to clap them together like cymbals, giving him different sized lids so he can see and hear the differences when banged together.

When I first tried this with my daughter she was too young to be interested in banging around on things. As you can see in the picture, all she wanted to do was chew on the spoon! But as she got older we gave her her own cabinet space in our kitchen where she could open one of the doors and play with the plastic ware and small pans inside, and she quickly took to drumming on them at least once a day. She loves it! We just have to make sure to give our containers a little rinse before we use them, since she likes to scatter them around the house from time to time.