Here’s the second half to Wednesday’s Busy bag post! Don’t forget to enter our contest, we are giving tons of these away! Sometimes I’m surprised how many people don’t enter contest because they think they won’t win. As of right now, your chances are still pretty good of winning! Refer to Busy Bags Part 2 to learn how to enter the contest!
Okay, now on to our roundup…
Busy Bag Ideas
First up are these Geometric Connecting Shapes. You can do all kinds of fun learning activities with these, or just let the kids free-play and have fun building different shapes and structures. You could easily do 10-12 busy bags with these since it comes with a ton (refer to Busy Bags Round 2 for ideas on doing a busy bag swap with friends and splitting up the cost).
I also thought these cute finger puppets would make fun busy bags! I ordered the woodland variety and the finger puppet assortment. Each assortment could easily be divided up between multiple people. For instance, you could split them up so everyone has a variety, or you could sort them in groups. One person could take the fairy tale finger puppets, another could take the ocean life finger puppets, someone else could take all the frogs, etc. I thought it would be fun to put a mini book, song or poem in with each busy bag so that the kiddos could sort of “act” it out. I’m probably going to group the frogs together with the song “Five Little Speckled Frogs.”
busy bag ideas
These peg boards make for another fun busy bag. This one would make 6 different busy bags since there are six peg boards. I wish the boards were heavy-duty plastic rather than foam, but it is a really thick foam so it should last for quite a while. Read about some Color Games you can play with these peg boards over at the blog Moms Have Questions too.
Okay, this cookie matching game is totally adorable and this one would be very durable. Obviously you could do different matching activities with them, but I swear I had another idea in mind when I ordered them (I blame pregnancy brain). Once I remember, I’ll update you. Anyone else have some fun ideas for this one? Send me a winner idea and I’ll send you some of them in the mail. Yes, this one will make multiple bags as well, it comes with a TON of cookies.
This next one is really cute and would be one you would just buy as a single (as in it will make one busy bag). It’s a dress up girl puzzle and the nice thing about it is all the pieces to it fit inside the little box, so you don’t need a bag or pencil pouch to put this one in.
These paper doll foam shapes are so fun and the package comes with a TON of shapes! I just wish there was more variety for outfits, but they were still very fun and I’m glad I got them. It just so happens that these people-shaped wood sticks that I got at Hobby Lobby fit the pieces perfect! I was so thrilled (although I bet just glueing them on regular popsicle sticks would work just fine too). Piece of advice: Glue them on without removing the paper backing. I don’t know what I was thinking, I removed mine and now they are sticky on the back. Anyone have bright ideas for how to make foam pieces not be sticky on the back? A couple other things you could do with these shapes: sketch out a body outline and laminate it. Then use velcro to attach the different outfits and faces. You could also laminate a small piece of metal onto the body outline like I did in this post, and then make all the outfit pieces magnetic. Many possibilities for this one! This one would easily make 10-15 busy bags.
This last one is quite genius-whoever invented them! They are called dry erase sleeves. Just slip a fun printable into the pouch and you instantly have a dry erase activity. These would also be fun to use as a mom for daily planning sheets so that you don’t have to waste a new piece of paper everyday. In this picture I used one of the play dough activity sheets from our printable roundup.
Which busy bag ideas are your favorite?
Don’t forget to enter the contest and win some for your kiddos!
*I was not financially compensated for this post. I received a sample for review purposes. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.*
Copyright protected by Digiprove © 2013 Kristina Manscill
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Wow!!! Love them all. I need to be neighbors with someone like you so I have a friend to actually carry out all these awesome ideas with. 🙂
Nice ideas. For the dry erase sleeves you could also probably just use plastic paper covers for 3 ring binders if you have them from a home office.
Totally genius. You are the most creative person I know!
WOW!! I love these, gonna try a few for our trip in July.
To remove the stickiness from foam pieces or any stickers, rub baby powder over the surface. I did that to some foam piecec for my grandaughter. Then I put strips of magnetic tape on the “un-sticky” backs. Walla! Foam magnets
Wow! Thanks so much. I will add your tip to my post
I just found your blog on Pinterest, and I am loving your ideas! Thank you fo sharing so many wonderful things!
You are so welcome Megan! Thanks for taking the time to comment, I read and appreciate every one!
Another way to get rid of the stickiness is to cover it with a layer of hot glue. Seems paradoxical but it works! 🙂
for the cookies, how about sequencing cards – match the cookies and finish the pattern. Another idea would be to have “recipe cards” and a “cookie sheet” – pick out the cookies that match the recipe and put the cookies on the pan – maybe even a counting activity to put the right number on the pan.
I laminated the heads without faces and added a can of Play-doh to my Busy Bag. Kids can make faces using Play-doh.
I love all your ideas! I am watching my 2 grandchildren (ages 4 and 5) this summer so I’m looking for new, fun, and a little educational. I am a preschool teacher during the school year.
On your sticky back foam pieces.
I’m wondering if you stuck two foam pieces together back to back and then glue or put a Velcro on, if that would work.
For the cookies, you can write letters or numbers to sequence, hide one of each pair and give the child the other one to go on a cookie hunt, write numbers on papers and have child put the right amount of cookies on the plate/cookie sheet.
Thanks for the ideas!