Turning kitchen items into stackable towers – see how your baby investigates household utensils

Head into the kitchen and find some lightweight pots and pans. Plastic bowls, cups, saucepans, plastic measuring cups, and such will be perfect. Set them on the floor, with you and your baby. Have some exploration time to begin with and observe what your baby does with the objects. You might see that they investigate putting one item on top of another.

After a short while, invite your baby to help you stack some items. Notice when they have a smaller object in their hand, such as a measuring cup, and find something for yourself that is a similar size. Place your item on top of a bigger object and draw your baby’s attention to it. Slide a bigger object nearer to your baby and watch to see if they copy what you have done. You might want to narrate what you are doing as you play.

They may not want to copy you; they might have their own idea of what they to do and this is fine. Seeing your actions will still help them process what can be done when playing and exploring.