You're Recycling Your Cans and Boxes Too Soon

Playing in the Pantry

Toddlers and preschoolers are often underfoot in the kitchen. They empty drawers, bang on pots and pans, and spill things (and sometimes even try to clean them up). Sometimes they even offer to help put away groceries (or get them out) by playing in the pantry.

It is a life skill, really. Putting food away so that it is easy and safe to retrieve. Precarious stacks of heavy canned goods or glass containers are seldom seen in a well-organized and highly used pantry. And your children can start learning how to put things away pretty early in life. 

However, you might not want their "help" in your kitchen. So, why not make them their own kitchen stash? 

Facepalm, or Lessons from the Children's Museum of Phoenix

I'm not suggesting that you buy a giant, albeit inviting, toy kitchen. Nor am I suggesting that you stock up on wooden or plastic toy foods. Instead, I'm inviting you to take a page out of the playbook used by the Children's Museum of Phoenix - do it yourself.

The grocery store exhibit at the Children's Museum of Phoenix uses recycled containers to stock their shelves.

Just like the ones I have sitting around at home...

Facepalm? Yeah, me too. 

The Flux of New and Old

As you empty the contents of boxes, remove the plastic bag from within and then tape the box closed. Wash out the milk containers, let them dry, and then glue their lids on. You don't even have to do anything to an egg carton (assuming none of the eggs broke). 

How to Open a Can...

The only tricky part piece is having the right can opener so you can recycle your canned goods. Many can openers leave a sharp-edged circle that would fall to the bottom of the can if you tried to re-attach it.

The OXO Good Grips Smooth Edge Can Opener solves the problem.

As you can see, the top of the can is removed and has a lip on it. You can take it off, wash it, dry it, and place it neatly back on the top of the can. 

...and Close it Up Again

A couple beads of superglue secures the lids just fine.

And if you feel like being fancy then you can drop a few dried beans or uncooked rice into the can before sealing it up. Then you'll have a can that also makes noise! (Certainly a good trick to have up your sleeve to re-invent the toy.)

Speaking of Tricks Up Your Sleeve

Another way to embellish the groceries is to stuff old herb containers with yarn, paper, or fabric.

And, I mean, who DOESN'T have a ton of bits of scrap paper laying around the house? It makes perfect ingredients. Have your kid cut the paper up into tiny pieces and make their own concoction. They could fill an old cracker box with paper crackers; they could make a rainbow soup; or who knows what. But whatever it is, it can be recycled.

Get Started 

How cool is it that you can extend the life of your canned goods by turning them into toys? 

I see two huge things I put in my parenting "win" column: First, my preschooler gets free and novel toys on a regular basis. Second, I can throw out (recycle) the toys with no sneakiness or guilt.

Here's how you can get started:

1. Buy a good can opener, some packing tape (optional), and superglue.
2. Go grocery shopping.
3. As you empty containers, wash them out and let them dry. 
4. Seal the containers shut.

You can stash the play groceries away for a rainy day surprise. Then you can say, "Let's play grocery store together!" and do a big reveal. 

Kick it Up a Notch

OK, OK. This post would not be complete without a way for your child to haul their new groceries around the "store." So, you might also be interested in a collapsable Grocery Cart...

...or a Grocery Basket.

Whatever version of this post resonates with you, be sure to keep it in mind for the upcoming indoor play season! And I'd love to hear how it goes!

3, 4, 12

We were making castle cupcakes for the Princess Party. Anna was eager to help and I was ready to include her in the process. To start her off, I asked her to put the paper cupcake liners into the cupcake pan. What happened next amazed me and made me wonder more about well-chosen and well-designed "toys."

The cupcake pans were standard 12-cake pans. The paper liners came in three designs: striped, teal blue, and gold. And we were getting ready to celebrate the end of Anna's fourth trip around the sun.

I presented Anna with the task and the materials and how she proceeded was entirely of her own design. She took the striped cupcake liners and counted out loud as she put them in the pan: "1, 2, 3, 4." Then she took the  blue cupcake liners and continued, "1, 2, 3, 4." Lastly, the yellows were put in, "1, 2, 3, 4." She continued to line the next pan and the next.

I listened and looked. When she had started, she worked across the short rows of the pan. Counting four cupcake liners she filled the row of three and then worked up to place the fourth one in the next row. With the next type of liner she continued on the second row, filling two more before placing numbers three and four in the third row. Finally, with the last color, she counted "1, 2, 3, 4," and filled in the rest of the cupcake pan.

 

In the third pan her pattern changed. Instead of snaking back and forth across the rows, she worked with columns. "1, 2, 3, 4," fill each column with a different-patterned cupcake liner.

When I asked her about her work I started with, "why did you do four of each color?" She responded sensibly, "because I'm turning four." When I asked her to tell me about her patterns she said, "I went here and then here and then here..." pointing me through each spot on each pan. And when I asked why it was different for the third cupcake pan she said, "because that is where I put them."

Now, I'm a firm believer that play is enough. But I also believe that having an open and authentic dialog about what your young child does can provide some awesome learning opportunities. So I hope it is obvious that I didn't expect much more than what she offered...but I do believe that her work represented notable pre-math skills.

To me her patterns represent preschool multiplication, which is something she's been working on as of late. I believe that what she said and what she did is evidence of pre-math learning. What really piques my interest is the timing and nature of the learning materials:

- The cupcake pans were standard 12-cake pans.
- The paper liners came in 3 designs: striped, teal blue, and gold.
- And we were getting ready to celebrate the end of Anna's 4th trip around the sun.

When she turned three would she have had a similar learning experience if we had four patterns of cupcake liners? When she turned two, six patterns? When she turns six, two patterns? At what point would she spontaneously devise a a beautiful preschool math lesson for herself? And how can we extend it (and should we)?

I will go back to "play is enough." I will consider it sufficient that I said (in all honesty), "I like the patterns you chose. Tell me how you did it!" and "Look at the math learning!" And I will enjoy her learning in all its glory. 

Spoon Catapult

I don't have too much to say about this besides, "This happened today."

Preschool Engineering in the kitchen....

Learning from Harmony's ACT

I love having "ah ha!" moments for myself. Although sometimes it is embarrassing...why does it take me so long to put my finger on something obvious? Or put words to something that crystalizes it in a very real way? I would guess that there are just too many things going on in life to catch it all all the time. But when I do have an "ah ha!" moment I like to share it here. And I just had one this past week.

My daughter has been going to an art class once a week for more than six months now. Every week she brings home a stack of creations - everything from sculptures to paintings. She is always so proud to show off her work to us. Sometimes the creations are from kits like her paper crown with jewels glued on it. In those cases, I'm happy that I wasn't the one who had to shop for the kit, Anna in tow and offering her opinions on what art/craft project would be "interesting." The painting made using cooked spaghetti noodles instead of brushes made me smile. I had heard of this technique and glad Anna finally had had the opportunity to try it out. And the sculpture of air dry clay with marker caps stuck in it....? Well, it was a creative use of recycled things. It provided a novel experience for creating for my daughter and introduced me to a new way of using things that would otherwise be trash. But for the most part, my role of learner was on hiatus in those times surrounding dropping her off and picking her up.

Until finally, inspiration struck. I was at home unpacking groceries form Costco. I unwrapped a Costco-sized wheel of brie (Anna's favorite) and I was in the process of cutting it and freezing it when I thought of what Ms. Harmony would do. Instead of recycling the wooden container that had contained the brie, I stashed it. Later, I pulled it out and offered it to Anna. She chose to paint it. 

Then I flashed to Ms. Harmony unpacking something and handing the bubble wrap to Anna to paint on. Next I remembered the plastic inserts in our rice cracker boxes, which makes a delightful crinkling sound when touched, and knew those would be good for painting, too. The plastic covers of toys, the ring from inside our milk screw top lids, and the black spool that holds our gift ribbon are all valid things on which to paint, glue, and otherwise use for creating. And, most importantly, those are free ways to give our children a novel experience. 

Now my only problem is how to dispose of all these treasures... Managing our "Engineer's Stash" and recycled materials is a constant struggle. But the creating still happens and I am so happy to see my children occupied with new things that I'll suck it up and make the most of what materials are laying around the house and how we repurpose those materials...and I will thank Ms. Harmony for opening my eyes to a whole new world of art.

So tell me - what have you learned from your preschooler's teacher?

  

Gingerbread Geometry

I love these Gingerbread house guides on Tinkerlab: "Seven Ways to Build a Gingerbread House." It reminded me of teaching geometry to adult learners at a community college in Wisconsin. In my class, I brought cylinders in that I had wrapped with paper. I asked my students to guess what shape the paper would be when we took it off. Guesses ranged from circle to oval but no one could believe their eyes when they unwrapped a rectangle. The lesson was to help them practice those spatial exercises to perform surface area calculations. Now that I am teaching preschoolers and the holiday season is upon us, I am recognizing all these similar pre-math activities.

Building gingerbread houses, wrapping different size and shape gifts, and winding twinkle lights around a tree are all wonderful places for children to learn pre-math skills and pre-engineering skills. They experiment with putting shapes together  when they build houses (pre-math). They learn about materials for holding sides together with rooftops as well as the aesthetic value of symmetry (pre-engineering). They learn experientially about length, circumference and surface area when they run around a tree trunk to wrap twinkle lights (more pre-math). They also learn how tightly they have to wrap or how to find "hooks" on the tree so the lights don't come tumbling down (pre-physics). The preschool STEM learning is just everywhere! No wonder it is an exciting time for preschool engineers.

So rest assured that STEM education does not take a break at the holidays. It is there. Let your child enjoy it!

Happy Holidays!

Peace image from http://thegatheringsanangelo.blogspot.com/

Thank you, readers, for your interest in preschool engineering. It is my pleasure to share my ideas and discoveries with you. With the holiday season upon us I am writing to sign off for the rest of the year. I do not plan any more original posts until January 2014. Never fear! I will continue to pass along fun stuff on my Facebook page and Google+. Plus, you can review my lists and other writing whenever you want in the archives. Here are links to my most recent "Gift Ideas" for mechanically-minded toddlers and preschoolers:

- Favorite Picture Books with Awesome Machines
- Kitchen Gadgets
- Apparel
- Around the House
- Gears for All Ages
- Top 5 Play Dough Toys
- Top 5 Slow Toys
- Top 5 Songs
- Top 5 Truck Books
- Stocking Stuffers
- Top 5 Apps
- Top 5 Working Trucks

Peace.

Most Used Kitchen Gadgets for Preschool Engineering

In his FoodTV show "Good Eats" Alton Brown taught adults all about cooking from a very STEMy perspective. The science that underlies how heat plus food equals cooking was included in every episode. He talked about anatomy of cows. And, most interestingly for a preschool engineer, he discussed the technology of the kitchen. Alton Brown is who I think about when I see my kid experimenting with kitchen tools. This list is comprised of the kitchen gadgets that my child uses in his play.

8. Can Opener. It has a crank and gears and sharp blades that turn. I like to let my kids use a can opener to cut orange rinds, banana peels, and anything else that seems to fit in there. Good for fine motor work, experimenting with what tools are best for which jobs as well as some lessons on materials.  (Mind you, I have my own can opener that I can always find because the children's can opener often goes "missing.")

7. Egg Beater. I'm not talking about an electric egg beater. I'm talking about a handheld, "old school" egg beater. One with a crank and some gears. Santa put one in Mikey's stocking last year and it is used in the mini pool in the yard, in sand, and in the bath tub. Mixing materials and colors with this tool is great pre-STEM work.

6. Funnels. Keep your eyes peeled at a second hand store. Funnels always seem to turn up. Otherwise you can toss this set of three into your Amazon cart for ~$4 to eek up to the $25 price point to earn free Super Saver Shipping. Our funnels are used and abused in sand, water and the mud in between. One is a "house" for a pet "worm." If you want to stray from the kitchen section and get a bonafide toy funnel then check out the one at Fat Brain Toys, pictured below, or the funnels that are integrated with water wheels, also pictured below.

 


5. Salad Spinner. Salad spinners will tickle a preschool engineer because they harness the power of centripetal force. Our has been used to dry rocks, socks, make painting, and as a fish bowl to make the stuffed fish "swim." Personally, I was glad to hand over my cumbersome and hard to store gadget to my preschooler. When you shop consider what your child might like...one with a crank or a button? The possibilities seem endless.

Crank

Button

4. Baster. A baster is so cool for a mechanically-minded preschooler. It is a pipe AND he or she can use it to create a vacuum to suck things up. These are simple water tools to hand over to your child. right along the lines of a baster, you can consider a transfer dropper. I include a link, below, for a pack of six glass ones but for the same price you can get 100 plastic ones! I'm trying to reduce clutter so I'd opt for six but with 100 you could consider them pretty disposable.

Baster

Transfer Droppers

3. Measuring Cups. Want to upgrade yourself from your old trusty but plastic and dinged up measuring cups? Give them to your kid and get yourself some nice new stainless ones from Williams-sonoma. (Laughing out loud.) Measuring cups are yet another open-ended toy. They can be used for scooping and dumping any number of things - water, sand, rocks, beads, broken crayons, you name it! They can also double as bathtubs in pretend houses or miniature planters for landscaping.

2. Tongs. Anything that makes the tongs different from the next set and valuable to a chef will appeal to your child, too. CHeck out my list on Amazon or go to this list at Montesorri Services. The possibilities for grabbing are endless. Plus, a new set of tongs will make your kid feel like a brand new robot. ;)

1. Whirley Pop. The whirley pop is the thing that my husband and I most dislike but it is my son's favorite kitchen gadget. It has a crank, an observable bevel gear, plus a spinning thing inside. Ours has mixed everything imaginable and, most recently, was a "rock polisher" like the one Mikey saw on Dinosaur Train "Treasure Hunt." So, hey, you can buy one and make some popcorn and know that when the novelty of a popcorn popper wears off the preschool play can begin.

[Disclosure Statement: This post contains affiliate links. If you click and purchase, I receive a small referral fee at no cost to you. To see how I spend the money see my "Philanthropy" page. ]

Stocking Stuffers

Ha ha. Perspective is funny.

When I think of stocking stuffers I think of small, fairly inexpensive (usually) but interesting things. I'm keeping this page as a running list of toys, food, craft supplies, and other things that might be good as a small gift for a preschool engineer.


Twisty Crayons. When Mikey's preschool teacher visited our home to do a one-on-one meet-and-greet, she was not surprised that Mikey spent some time investigating the nature of the twisty crayons she had brought instead of drawing with them. "The boys always play with the crayons. The girls get right to drawing with them," she said to me. "Ah ha!" I thought, "two aspects preschool engineering. Mechanical (de)construction and design." The crayons are basically like lipstick...the wax goes up and down when someone twists the bottom. Simple, interesting, and small.






Post-it Flags. OK, this might seem weird but my kids love post-it flags. They have received WAY MORE attention from my preschool engineer than any sticker he ever has seen. I think it has to do with the interesting dispensing mechanism. I mean, who hasn't been stunned by the simple but clever design of a post-it flag? Add the favorite color-factor and you've got yourself a silly little treasure.







Color Packs of Crayons. Did you know that you could get a mega-pack of your kid's favorite color crayon? It makes sense but I was surprised and delighted to find that tid bit out. You can either buy a pack of twelve identical crayons like these Crayola 12-packs (available in ROYGBIV, black and pink) or pick one color in many hues like the Playful Purple or Hello Sunshine collections (also by Crayola and also available in other colors). I don't know about you but my kid would be ecstatic to have twelve identical pink crayons. LOL. Oh, and keep your eyes peeled at the local toy stores. I've seen these sets for ~$2 but they list for ~$8 on Amazon!

Safety Scissors. For a preschool engineer scissors are a lot like robot claws. They open and close like tongs or grabbers and they have an added bonus of cutting things. And my oh my how things have changed since I was a child! Scissor safety is still a concern but check out Crayola's "Safety Scissors." There is no blade! The super-sharp edges are enough to cut paper...and that is all they cut! Seems like a win-win for parent and child!

Chocolate Gears

Interesting Food. The holidays are a time of fun food! Just for kicks, I'll invite you to see food through the eyes of a preschool engineer. My kid calls peanut butter cups "gear chocolate" and "Annie's All Stars" also look like gears. He also picks out the Bionaturae "Fusilli" pasta at the store and calls them auger noodles. So when you're looking to splurge on new food for your children just imagine how cool chocolate gears might be received.

Silly Utensils. Whenever we travel with these "Constructive Eating" utensils we get compliments. Since acquiring these utensils I've also discovered that they have a garden set (shovel, rake, and hoe) along with plates with ramps for pushing food around and scooping and lifting at the table.





Tongs, Claws and Grabbers. Anything that makes the tongs different from the next set and valuable to a chef will appeal to your child, too. Look for toast tongs, escargot tongs, as well as specialty toy grabbers...all listed on my Listmania List.









IKEA's Hand-powered Flashlight. When we discovered this hand-powered flashlight, I don't know who was more tickled me or my preschool engineer. It is so simple and small. It is easy for a preschooler to hold and crank. Plus there is immediate gratification because the more the child cranks the more the LEDs light up.







Wind Up Toys. Don't forget simple delights like wind up toys. Here is a link to my list of some of our favs.

[Disclosure Statement: This post contains affiliate links. If you click and purchase, I receive a small referral fee at no cost to you. To see how I spend the money see my "Philanthropy" page. ]

Escargot Tongs

It is fun looking for a preschool for one's child to attend. Together, Mikey and I discovered new games, new toys, and new inspiration for play. We have seen the quiet rooms of a local Montessori where children are fully immersed in their "work." We have strolled the landscape and farm of a Waldorf and seen the fanciful play space where imaginations are nurtured. We have even attended a play-based school where teachers blend best practices from a variety of early childhood education philosophies. Each place has given me food for thought and I have tucked ideas away for rainy days. Here's one...

Escargot tongs fall into the claw/robot category for a preschool engineer. From a developmental standpoint, play with these tongs support fine motor growth. From my point of view, depending on the items to grab, there is opportunity for sorting colors, counting, and making funny sounds when they open and close. For you, I hope you will see the escargot tongs in a new preschool engineering light.

[Disclosure Statement: This post contains affiliate links. If you click and purchase, I receive a small referral fee at no cost to you. To see how I spend the money see my "Philanthropy" page. ]

Cherry Pitter

Photo from amazom.com

The summer solstice is upon us and with it comes thoughts of summer holidays, activities, and super-fun food! In fact, we saw our first bag of cherries just last week and alongside them an aptly-placed display of a new preschool engineering toy.

Never-before-seen, the novelty of the cherry pitter was appealing to Mikey. Upon closer inspection it remained pretty awesome. It looks like a claw that opens and closes. It has a bucket of some sort. There is a funny-looking puncher ready and waiting to do its work. Plus, it is the perfect size for a preschooler's hands. The new kitchen gadget fell right into the cart.

When we got home I put Mikey to work with a bag of cherries and the cherry pitter. He was delighted that it worked as he suspected it would and very quickly decided to test it out on other materials. Play-doh was first, then paper, next a piece of bread, and the list goes on and on and on.

I do not need a cherry pitter. I like to roll the fruit around in my mouth and play with it until the pit is ready to be spit out. Plus, my kitchen and house is already filled to the brim with stuff. If I could rent this kind of thing then I would...until I start my toy library that just won't be an option. But my days are best when Mikey has something interesting to figure out, something new to dissect or take apart, a new tool with which to experiment. So I will make room in my kitchen for the cherry pitter and a dozen other kitchen tools, too.

Music

Photo from ramblingsofabeautybird.blogspot.com

What little kid doesn't like to blow on whistles, shake maracas or beat on pots and pans to make a ton of racket? The musical mayhem of preschoolers is silly at best and migrane-inducing at worst. For preschool engineers the smashing and crashing might be OK for a bit but they are soon turning away from the instruments in search of something more "interesting."

I'm not sure if it is just because video games suck you in or if this particular one has so many things to figure out but Toca Boca's iOS game called Toca Band has intrigued my preschool engineers in surprising ways.

Each "instrument" is located along the bottom of the screen. The player drags and drops the instrument to a circle. If the instrument is placed on one of the circle pads on the bottom row then it will have a slow tempo. The middle row has faster tempo and the top row is the fastest tempo. So the banjo plays slowly on the bottom, faster in the middle, and fastest on the top. The yellow pad that has a star is actually a lift so your child can investigate the nuances of each instrument in turn. She can pluck the strings of the harp or make the percussionist shake, rattle, and roll.

Your child can create ensemble music and it is almost fool-proof. Some ensembles sound better than others and I think that is the interesting thing for a preschool engineer.

Photo from theappside.com

Toca Band for iPhone
Toca Band for iPad
Not available on Android. If you have a favorite music app for kids to recommend then please share it in the comments!

Curious George
More inspiration from PBS's "Curious George!" There are three things I like about "The All-Animal Recycled Band." First, Curious George make his own instruments from containers and other stuff he finds in his house. It is yet another source from which your child can learn to "reduce, reuse, recycle." Second, the band members are his friends (two dogs, a cat, and a bird) who have varying levels of cooperation...another "truth" for Curious George to investigate.



Preschool Engineers as In-House Musicians
Between his work with Toca Band and his research watching Curious George's All-Animal Recycled Band, Mikey has become more and more inspired to create his own instruments and his own music. He tries to direct everyone in the family. He tests new materials for sound. His success rate seems to land somewhere in between Toca Band and Curious George.

When I think about what exactly is so interesting for a preschool engineer trying to make music I look to my son for hints. I think it is about balancing order with disorder, learning scales on a xylophone or in progressively larger and larger bowls versus playing harmonies, playing on the beat or in syncopation. I guess whatever the explanation is for why a preschool engineer likes to figure out complex music probably isn't as important providing the time and space for them to figure it out.

Photo from jesrestaurantequipment.com

Salad Spinner

The salad spinner might be one of those everyday engineered items that is worth revisiting with your child over and over again.

Preschool Engineering
During the preschool years, when their brains are simply working to identify patterns, the salad spinner is yet another mechanical marvel that goes in a circle. Unlike a wheel on a car (or bike or truck...), which traverses, the center of the salad spinner stays put. That will make it interesting in and of itself. Let your preschooler experiment with things that can go into the spinner and be amazed at the discoveries he or she will make!

If you're ready for a mess then use the salad spinner to make art. The Imagination Tree gives some step-by-step instructions complete with pictures. The splatter patterns will give you and your preschool engineer some ideas to ponder about centripetal force and make for some great kid-art.

Salad Spinner Art from momscraftyspace.com.

Elementary School Engineering
When your little engineer goes to grade school, you can revisit the engineering of the salad spinner. Was it a solution to an important problem? (In fact, the salad spinner was met with a lot of criticism (see Wiki).) What makes it cool? What might be not-so-cool about it? What could it be used for besides drying wet leaves? High schoolers could investigate the physics and mathematics of centripetal force. And they could consider the salad spinner from a design standpoint...how might it be improved or changed?

The "Toy"
There are different types of salad spinners - a big one and a little one that begin to spin when you push a button and one that has a crank. If you want a true toy then check out Chicco's Butterfly Spinner.





Pretend you are a preschool engineer and look around your kitchen. There are many wonderful tools for them to discover...!

Building Bridges

Building bridges is the quintessential experience for aspiring engineers. In fact, when I taught an "Introduction to Engineering" class at a northwest university, building a bridge with toothpicks and glue was the project around which our reading and writing revolved. And if you search the internet you will see that the activity is popular in every age group from middle school to post-secondary school.

For Mikey, building things for the sake of building them was never interesting. He liked to demolish things that I built. But two things have recently inspired him - Curious George and an iPad game.

Curious George

Curious George gets to do a lot of cool science and engineering. In his adventure titled, "A Bridge Too Farm," George builds a bridge made out of toothpicks, marshmallows, and playing cards. After some trial and error, making observations and revisions, George creates a bridge to save stranded chicks from an island.


After watching Curious George, Mikey was ready to build. I took out some toothpicks and small marshmallows and together we built a bridge. He worked on making dumbbell-looking pieces that I then attached to the ends of triangles.

The fun of using marshmallows is that you get to have a little treat while you work. I couldn't help but to remember my days playing with wooden tinker toys as a child. For those little preschool engineers who can't indulge in a marshmallow, or 25 marshmallows, here is a link to some classic wooden tinker toy-like things called "Fiddlestix."



An iOS App 
Mikey's second inspiration for constructing bridges comes from World of Goo.  It is an awesome iOS game. The "goo balls" act as your marshmallows would. As the player drags and drops goo balls, the "toothpicks" appear. It is a wildly entertaining game and I have to warn you that if your preschool engineer asks for help - beware. When I sit down to tackle a particularly tough one I usually get sucked in to figuring out how to build the right bridge. And right when I think I have it figured out Mikey sticks his finger on the screen to look at something and it all goes out the window. LOL.
Here's the link to the Android version: play.google.com.

Egg Beater

Who still uses a hand-powered egg beater any more? For most at-home cooks, it is likely considered an obsolete tool and just another thing to clutter a kitchen drawer. In the eyes of a preschool engineer it is a fabulous set of gears and a crank and spinning whisks! What an amazing toy!


The Kitchen Toy
I haven't seen a hand-powered egg beater in Bed, Bath and Beyond or Target. I was inspired when I visited my parents and saw an antique one hanging as decoration in their kitchen. As usual, I started at Amazon.com and found several options but went for the Norpro Rotary Egg Beater.


The Book
No learning experience is complete in our house without doing a little reading in books. I haven't found a book all about egg beaters but on page 40 in Richard Scarry's Best Word Book Ever (Golden Bestsellers Series) there is a little piggy using an egg beater just like Mikey's. What a delight.


An Inspiring Video
I handed the egg beater to Mikey. I knew he would help in the kitchen with it but I was interested to know how Mikey viewed this fabulous piece of engineering. He took it to his rice box to see how the rice would react to the egg beater. Sure enough, the egg beater became a truck - a disc trencher. Just for fun, here is a YouTube video of a disc trencher.