Today I needed to keep Veronika occupied while baking banana bread, so I pulled out an old classic: a kitchen percussion set made from pots and pans.

For novelty, though, I made today’s focus less about the musical element and more about sensory play. I provided her with several different types of baking ware: a saucepan, a muffin tin, and a loaf pan. We started out drumming with bare hands, and I drew her attention to the sound this made.

Then I set out a variety of implements to be drum sticks, everything from spatulas to wooden spoons to cookie scoops.

Look for a variety of materials in your kitchen; we had soft silicone, wood, metal, and more. I sat with Veronika and asked her about the different sounds she was hearing. She grinned up at me and tested them all!

When I showed her how to swirl the whisk in a muffin cup or saucepan, she was an eager mimic.

You can also make piles and see how this changes the sounds around. If the loaf pan was on top of the muffin pan, it sounded different (more metallic) than when it sat alone on the floor.

Once our little sensory lesson was done, Veronika kept busy by herself as mommy finished up the banana bread. A win-win!