Quick and Easy Busy Bags
We traveled in January and rather than loading the car with the noisy, space-consuming toys my children love--sometimes, I decided to make busy bags. These bags are small, portable and a lot less noisy than conventional toys. As an added bonus, these bags inspire the children to think and be creative. An added bonus is that these bags are so cost-effective, I don't worry about losing pieces or forgetting one somewhere!
The first bag I made was a counting bag. I used colored craft sticks (you can purchase 100 with varied colors at Walmart), velcro tabs, and puff balls. I numbered the sticks and put the appropriate number of velcro tabs on each one. Then I put a corresponding velcro tab on a puff ball (note, the puff balls don't stick well to velcro on their own). The children add and remove the puff balls. I find they love taking things off and putting things on. So, this is a quiet activity that teaches counting, number recognition and cause and effect.
The second bag was "blocks." This is really easy to create. Just buy some kitchen sponges and cut them in a couple of different sizes. These are fun to stack and don't make any noise when they fall over! The children love the bright colors.
The third bag was a threading bag. You only need straws and pipe cleaners. Cut the straws into various sizes and the children can thread them on the pipe cleaners. Note that I used both regular straws and smoothie straws. The smoothie straws fall right off the pipe cleaners, but my 14-month-old did not have the dexterity to thread the smaller straws. My two-year-old loved hooking pipe cleaners together to make necklaces and bracelets! This is a great small motor skill builder for toddlers.
The fourth bag was a connector set. This bag used the velcro tabs and the craft sticks. Place a hook velcro tab on each end of the craft stick, turn the stick over and place a loop velcro tab on each end of the stick. This is my children's favorite activity. Even at home they ask to play with this one. My two-year-old loves to work on building triangles and squares. She is learning shapes and colors through this activity.
I also made a fifth bag, but didn't take a picture of it. I simply used four colored gift bags (red, blue, green, yellow) and a few of the craft sticks and puff balls in the same colors. I dump all of the craft sticks and puff balls on the floor and then the children sort them into the appropriate gift bag. This teaches colors. You can also teach counting by asking questions, such as "how many blue sticks do we have?"
