Elizabeth Banks gets creative with the birds and the bees for her teenage sons

Elizabeth Banks had a memorable approach to the sex talk with her two teenage sons.

During her appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on March 24, the 52-year-old actress shared how she navigated the conversation with Felix, 15, and Magnus, 13, whom she shares with husband Max Handelman, while the family was on vacation in Cape Cod.

“I have two teenagers now. I have a 13- and 15-year-old. Yes. And I’m like their worst nightmare mom,” Banks joked. “I’m the mom that’s like, ‘So, you know about sex, right? And you know about tampons? And you know you have to buy tampons if you get a girlfriend.’ And they’re like, ‘Oh my god, that’s too much.’”

When Kimmel asked whether she or her husband handled the conversation, Banks explained that they approached it in stages.

“I think…well, I find you have to go in stages. They don’t really want to know about sex initially. They want to know where they’re from — like, ‘Where did I come from?’ and ‘Where are babies?’ and ‘What are kittens?’” she said.

Banks got creative when her eldest finally asked, “But mom, how does the penis get in the vagina?”

“It was in the backseat of the car while my husband went in to get a coffee,” she recalled. “We were on Cape Cod on vacation, and I was like, ‘Oh wow. It’s happening right now. Okay, this is it.’”

Using whales and other animals as metaphors, Banks explained the mechanics in a way her sons could understand.

“There was a screensaver in our house with two whales dancing in the water, and I used that to explain that the whales were ‘doing it.’ And I literally think I did do…this like, at one point,” she said, gesturing to mimic the action.

“We ended up talking about kittens and puppies, and they all have penises and vaginas.”