Toy Thursday: The best toys are in the Kitchen!

Bang! Bang! Clunk and Clang! Rumble and tumble...shake! What kid does not like playing in mommy's cupboards banging lids together as cymbals, taking wooden spoons and drumming on stainless steel bowls, and shaking a bottle full of rice. Who says you have to spend all this money on toys?

At our house you will catch us playing like that. Judah's new found interest is playing in the cupboards. If I can get past having lids strewn across the floor and having to wash them all the time, I find a little boy who is just having so much fun and grinning from ear to ear from all the excitement.

We pop some music in and bang containers together like cymbals. We take stainless steel bowls and turn them upside down hitting them with wooden spoons. We clunk the wooden spoons together. We even listen to the sound of stainless steel glasses clanged together. We fill clear bottles with rice for home made shakers. All the while moving to the beat of our own drum and the different sounds of the containers.

Sure the cat hides and then when we tire of the music, we take the containers and stack them like blocks knocking them down and then restacking them. Next, we open the containers up and practice sorting our shapes or other toys into different containers. We stack them up on top of the containers and knock them down too. We throw our balls into them like playing basket ball.

Judah also likes to play hide and seek in the cupboard. Here he learns to close the door and reopen to find someone saying, "Peek-a-Boo." We learn about wiping the cupboard down and putting the containers away. We put them in similar piles. We even sit in our chair washing them together with a bucket of soapy water. The only thing costing you is supervision for safety and a few extra dirty dishes. It is worth it though for many giggles.


It is amazing how much this can provide hours of entertainment for you and your child. Plus you feel good encouraging creative play and developing fine motor skills. And when mommy starts feeling that headache coming on and it is time for some quiet time, we finish by reading about the kitchen in "Pots and Pans" by Patricia Hubbell.

Happy Banging!