"Busy Bags"
A couple of months ago, several of the women in my ward got together
and exchanged "busy bags." We each created ten copies of some activity
that could keep kids entertained for a while, these can be good for car
trips, some people use them during Sacrament meeting, or just on a rainy
day or a quiet Sunday. Then we got together to exchange them. So we
came with ten copies of one activity, and left with ten different
activities; it was really cool. The idea is for each activity to be
small, easily transportable and self contained.
This was the one that I made. I went to Walmart and got a bunch of the paint color swatches. I cut off a strip of each one and glued it to a clothes pin, so the kids can match the clothes pin to the square of color. DJ really likes this one, and he's really good at matching the colors, even though he can't always name them correctly.
This one was meant for older kids, but DJ has lots of fun with it too. She took some foam sheets and sewed page protectors inside them to make books, then she put a few different games in the page protectors: hangman, battleship, and tic-tac-toe. She included a white board marker with an eraser on the end, and with the page protectors it's just like a white board, so you can play again and again.
This one DJ doesn't really get, but I'm sure he'll figure it out eventually. She drew four different characters and then cut them into three parts, and connected them on the side to a piece of cardboard with those ring thingies, so you can flip through them and match them up differently... I described that really weird... but you get the idea.
This one is a bunch of balloons filled with different things to create different textures. I think she put flour, rice, beans, and oats in four of them, and I still can't quite figure out what is in the last one. Both Andrew and DJ love to pull and poke and prod and squish and stretch these balloons.
This one has different parts of cupcakes cut out of felt that you can put together to make your own cupcake. The cake part, frosting, the cup, sprinkles, and a cherry. The sprinkles make this one pretty messy, but it's fun anyways
This one is a little more educational. She printed out sheets with the numbers 1 through 10 with pictures to go with them. There are also little circles under the pictures to put little puff balls in. This is how DJ finally got the idea of counting objects instead of just reciting numbers.
This one is called a shape snake. It's just a ribbon with a button sewn on either end, and shapes cut out of felt with a slit in the center to put on the ribbon.
This one is probably DJ's favorite one. All it is, it pipe cleaners and beads. It makes a huge mess if not carefully supervised, but he has so much fun putting the beads on the pipe cleaners. With this one I've worked with him on colors, numbers, counting, and patterns.
My friend spent hours sticking stickers onto a thin magnetic sheet, and then cutting each one out, creating magnetic stickers. DJ has lots of fun sticking these all over the cookie tin that came with them. He also recently discovered that they stick to the fridge... since he figured that out, it has been a lot harder keeping them contained, but I think it's a really cool idea.
This was the one that I made. I went to Walmart and got a bunch of the paint color swatches. I cut off a strip of each one and glued it to a clothes pin, so the kids can match the clothes pin to the square of color. DJ really likes this one, and he's really good at matching the colors, even though he can't always name them correctly.
This one was meant for older kids, but DJ has lots of fun with it too. She took some foam sheets and sewed page protectors inside them to make books, then she put a few different games in the page protectors: hangman, battleship, and tic-tac-toe. She included a white board marker with an eraser on the end, and with the page protectors it's just like a white board, so you can play again and again.
This one DJ doesn't really get, but I'm sure he'll figure it out eventually. She drew four different characters and then cut them into three parts, and connected them on the side to a piece of cardboard with those ring thingies, so you can flip through them and match them up differently... I described that really weird... but you get the idea.
This one is a bunch of balloons filled with different things to create different textures. I think she put flour, rice, beans, and oats in four of them, and I still can't quite figure out what is in the last one. Both Andrew and DJ love to pull and poke and prod and squish and stretch these balloons.
This one has different parts of cupcakes cut out of felt that you can put together to make your own cupcake. The cake part, frosting, the cup, sprinkles, and a cherry. The sprinkles make this one pretty messy, but it's fun anyways
This one is a little more educational. She printed out sheets with the numbers 1 through 10 with pictures to go with them. There are also little circles under the pictures to put little puff balls in. This is how DJ finally got the idea of counting objects instead of just reciting numbers.
This one is called a shape snake. It's just a ribbon with a button sewn on either end, and shapes cut out of felt with a slit in the center to put on the ribbon.
This one is probably DJ's favorite one. All it is, it pipe cleaners and beads. It makes a huge mess if not carefully supervised, but he has so much fun putting the beads on the pipe cleaners. With this one I've worked with him on colors, numbers, counting, and patterns.
My friend spent hours sticking stickers onto a thin magnetic sheet, and then cutting each one out, creating magnetic stickers. DJ has lots of fun sticking these all over the cookie tin that came with them. He also recently discovered that they stick to the fridge... since he figured that out, it has been a lot harder keeping them contained, but I think it's a really cool idea.
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