Benable — create shareable lists of things you recommend!
E.g., products you love, local businesses, travel recs - you can add anything to a Benable list!
How a Pancake Pen Got My Picky Kids Eating Dinosaur Breakfasts
27
items Mornings used to be a hostage negotiation — my kids refused anything that wasn't cereal or a granola bar. Then I started squeezing batter into T-Rex shapes and suddenly breakfast became the favorite meal. If you're a parent who's tired of scraping un...
Sections
9
Pancake Batter Dispensers That Actually Draw Shapes
Pancake Molds for Parents Who Can't Draw
Griddles That Give You Room to Get Creative
Batter Mixes That Pour Smoothly Through a Pen
Food Coloring That Makes Pancake Art Pop
Spatulas and Flipping Tools for Delicate Shapes
Pancake Batter Dispensers That Actually Draw Shapes
I tried using a squeeze bottle from the dollar bin and batter went everywhere except where I wanted it. These dispensers have tips narrow enough to actually write letters and draw tails on dinosaurs without the blob effect.
Grab this if you're tired of lumpy batter — it mixes and dispenses from the same bottle, so there's one less bowl to wash. My Saturday mornings went from four dirty dishes to one.
Customer reviews for Whiskware Plastic Batter Mixer
Use the squeeze tip to draw actual shapes instead of sad circles. My six-year-old requested a stegosaurus last week and it was recognizable, which felt like winning an art competition I didn't sign up for.
Tovolo Original Deep Indigo Plastic Pancake Pen 24 oz
Keep this one around if you make big batches — it holds way more batter than those tiny squeeze bottles. Feeds my crew of four kids plus two neighbor kids who always seem to show up on pancake day.
Customer reviews for Chef Buddy 4-Cup Pancake Batter
Pancake Molds for Parents Who Can't Draw
Not everyone can freehand a triceratops at 7 AM before coffee kicks in. These molds do the artistic heavy lifting while you just pour and wait.
Try these when your freehand circles keep turning into amoebas — they hold the batter in place so everything comes out uniform. Great for the parent who wants Instagram-worthy pancakes without any actual skill.
Norpro Round Pancake/Egg Rings (Set of 2)
Swap this in for mini pancakes shaped like actual dinos — pour thin batter in, microwave briefly, and pop them out. My toddler calls them ‘dino cookies’ and eats five without complaint.
Wilton Silicone Dinosaur Candy Mold, 15 Cavities
Snag these for flower and star shapes that work with pancake batter too. My daughter went through a phase where she only ate star-shaped food, and these saved my sanity for three straight months.
Round Muffin Top/Egg Pan Silicone Molds
Griddles That Give You Room to Get Creative
Trying to draw a brachiosaurus on a tiny 8-inch pan is like painting a mural on a napkin. A bigger cooking surface changed everything about pancake art morning.
Use this if your stovetop only fits one pan — the flat surface gives you room to draw three or four shapes at once. Breakfast went from a 40-minute rotation to everyone eating at the same time.
Presto 07061 22-Inch Electric Ceramic Griddle
Toss this across two burners for a massive cooking area that heats evenly. Pancake shapes actually brown uniformly instead of being burnt on one side and raw on the other.
Lodge Seasoned Cast Iron Reversible Grill/Griddle, 19x9.5in
Pair this with pancake mornings and burger nights — it pulls double duty so you're not storing another single-use appliance. Worth it for anyone whose cabinet space disappeared three kids ago.
Cuisinart Stainless Steel 5-in-1 Griddler with Reversible
Batter Mixes That Pour Smoothly Through a Pen
Regular thick batter clogs every dispenser tip within thirty seconds. Learned the hard way that the mix matters just as much as the tool.
Switch to this if your current mix is too thick for squeeze bottles — it blends smoother and flows through narrow tips without clogging. No more shaking the bottle like a frustrated ketchup situation.
Birch Benders Classic Recipe Pancake & Waffle Mix
Grab this for protein-packed pancakes that actually keep kids full past 9 AM. Thins out perfectly with a little extra milk so it works through dispensers without turning into cement.
Buttermilk Power Cakes Flapjack & Waffle Mix
Keep a box of this stocked because it's foolproof — even my husband, who once burned water, makes smooth batter with it. Consistent every single time at a price that doesn't hurt.
Krusteaz, Light and Fluffy Buttermilk Pancake Mix, 32 oz
Food Coloring That Makes Pancake Art Pop
Plain beige dinosaurs didn't impress my kids for long. Adding color to the batter outlines before filling them in made their eyes go wide — suddenly I was a breakfast artist.
Try gel over liquid — it tints batter without making it runny. A tiny squeeze turns your T-Rex outline dark brown against golden fill, and kids lose their minds over the contrast.
Wilton 8-Piece Gel Food Coloring Set, 4 oz. (8 Colors)
Snag this for a quick grocery run option when you forgot to plan ahead. Four basic colors that mix into anything — my son wanted a purple triceratops and we made it happen in ten seconds.
Customer reviews for McCormick Assorted Food Color
Use these if you're the parent reading ingredient labels at midnight — plant-derived colors that don't taste like chemicals. Perfect for anyone whose kid has sensitivities but still wants rainbow pancakes.
ColorKitchen Food Colors From Nature
Spatulas and Flipping Tools for Delicate Shapes
Nothing worse than spending three minutes drawing a perfect dinosaur and then destroying it with a spatula that's too big. Thin, flexible flippers changed the success rate dramatically.
Grab the thin flexible edge on this one — it slides under detailed shapes without tearing legs off your dinosaur. Before this, every flip was a coin toss between pancake art and pancake carnage.
OXO SoftWorks Silicone Flexible Pancake Turner
Use the narrow head to get under smaller shapes without bumping into the ones next to them on the griddle. For anyone cooking six tiny dinos at once, this is the difference between breakfast and a batter crime scene.
DI ORO 3-Piece Silicone Spatula Set
Try a restaurant-style turner if silicone feels too floppy for you — this one is rigid enough to scoop up bigger shapes in one confident motion. Feels like a cheat code for flipping.
Dexter Russell S172 Sani-Safe 4" x 2" Pancake Turner
Toppings That Make Kids Actually Sit Down and Eat
The shapes got them to the table, but toppings sealed the deal. Letting them decorate their own dino pancakes turned a five-minute meal into twenty minutes of quiet, focused eating. Parents, you know what that silence is worth.
Ditch plain maple for this when drawing eyes and claws on dinosaur pancakes — kids go absolutely feral decorating with a squeeze bottle. Messy but worth every sticky fingerprint on the table.
Hershey's Syrup Chocolate Flavoured Topping 425g
Pair strawberry drizzle with blueberry eyes for a dino that looks like it walked out of a cartoon. My daughter spent ten minutes carefully decorating hers instead of throwing a fit about breakfast. Ten. Minutes.
Smucker's Sundae Syrup
Toss a whipped cream cloud around the dinosaur and tell them it's a volcano explosion. Suddenly they're building a whole Jurassic scene on their plate and eating every bite of it.
Reddi-wip Original Whipped Topping Made with Real Cream
Kitchen Tools That Speed Up Pancake Morning Cleanup
Pancake art morning used to leave my kitchen looking like a batter bomb went off. These cut cleanup time in half so the whole thing stays fun instead of becoming a chore I dread.
Toss one of these at dried batter spots — it cuts through crusty pancake residue without scratching your griddle. Learned the hard way that regular sponges just smear it around.
Scrub Daddy, Scrub Sponge, Scratch-Free, Model 1-COUNT
Spray this directly on the griddle while it's still warm and batter wipes right off. Before I started doing this, I was soaking pans for hours like some kind of punishment for making fun breakfasts.
Customer reviews for Dawn Platinum Powerwash Dish
Use the narrow brush to clean inside pancake pen tips where batter dries and clogs. Skipping this step once meant my next pancake morning started with twenty minutes of unclogging instead of cooking.
Bottle Brush With Stand
Breakfast Accessories That Complete the Dino Theme
Once the dinosaur pancakes took off, my kids wanted the whole experience. Themed plates and cups turned Tuesday breakfast into an event they actually wake up excited for — and that alone is worth it.
Grab the dino print version and pack leftover mini pancakes for school lunch — my kid opened it in the cafeteria and three classmates asked their parents for dinosaur pancakes that night.
Bentgo Kids Lunch Bag
Swap regular plates for these so the dinosaur pancake lands on a dinosaur plate. My five-year-old said it was ‘the best day of his life,’ which is dramatic but also kind of made my whole week.
Zak Designs Disney Frozen Kids Dinnerware Set Includes
Keep this filled at the breakfast table so you're not getting up four times for water requests. The dino design matches the whole vibe and the straw lid means no spills on your freshly drawn masterpiece.
Elemental Kids Water Bottle with Straw & Pop It Handle