Funnel Water Play

Use Kitchen Gadgets to Entertain Kids

• What: Kitchen tools for fun
• When: 18 months and up
• Why: No cost fun sensory play
• Where: Your home

Kids home sick today? Or maybe you came down with a bug overnight and don’t have the energy to keep them occupied without more screen time. If you need to entertain your kids on next to no notice, don’t look any further than your kitchen cabinets. My kids love to play with my kitchen gadgets in a sink full of water, and it costs me nothing.

They choose silicone funnels for water play first. With them, they can make a fountain in the bathroom sink, and I don’t care how big the mess gets. If water splashes onto the floor or the step stool, I end up with a cleaner bathroom floor. I call that a win for everyone. They enjoy squishing the funnel into different shapes and experimenting with what happens with the water flow, and pouring water in one end then the other to see what happens.

Toss in a few measuring cups and they can entertain themselves for quite a while. They use the measuring cups to scoop and pour and the funnels to direct the water. If I go wild and let them have unlimited water, the fun could last hours.

Plus, I can use the funnel for its intended practical kitchen applications, like getting liquids into smaller containers. I’m looking at you, giant bottle of hand sanitizer that needs to be distributed into three smaller containers for strategic distribution throughout the house. The measuring cups come in handy in the kitchen, both their play kitchen and my real one.

Any time of day or year, open the kitchen drawer and let them loose, then send them off to play in a container full of water and buy yourself a few minutes of peace, if not sanity.