Pot and Spoon Drum Band

3-4 pots, pans, or metal bowls in different sizes

A wooden spoon or silicone spatula as a drumstick

Gather 3-4 pots, pans, and metal bowls of different sizes. Flip them upside down on the kitchen floor in a row.

Give your toddler a wooden spoon or silicone spatula as their drumstick.

Show them how to hit each pot and listen to the different sounds — big pots are low, small pots are high, thin metal rings.

Start a steady beat on one pot and encourage your toddler to copy you. Keep it simple: boom, boom, boom.

Sing a familiar song and drum along together, hitting the pots on the beat.

Try alternating between two pots: left pot, right pot, left pot, right pot. This is harder than it looks for a toddler.

Let your toddler free-play and bang on whichever pot they want while you sing along to their rhythm.

Yes, this is loud. Embrace it. Your toddler is discovering cause and effect in its purest form — I hit this, it makes sound.

Different materials produce different tones: metal pots ring, plastic bowls thud, wooden cutting boards give a warm tap. Mix them up.

If the noise is too much for your ears, try having your toddler tap with chopsticks instead of a spoon — much quieter but still rhythmic.

This is a great activity when your toddler is in the kitchen while you cook. Set up their drum kit and let them "play along" while you prep dinner.

Watch for emerging patterns. Even at 12-18 months, some toddlers will start tapping a repeated rhythm. That's early musical structure.