Busy Bags

A friend of mine organized a busy bag swap for our play group. Participation was completely voluntary, but I loved the idea of getting different activities for Ethan and Katelyn. Basically each person chooses an activity they want to make. I chose to do a cutting bag, which included a pair of scissors and different materials to cut. Once we knew how many were participating, 16 in this case, then we knew how many bags we needed to prepare. So, I made 16 cutting busy bags.

Last night we exchanged our busy bags and I came away with 16 activities to do with the kids! The activities included A to Z clothespin wheel, pom pom push, measure it, spooning beads, ABC fishing, number wheel, popsicle colors, alphabet tracing, cutting, A to Z letter match, noodle necklaces, button snake, pincher pom poms, coffee filter sun catchers, and five fabulous frogs. Each of the activities are pretty simple to make, but for me it was a matter of getting motivated and actually doing it. This swap was right up my ally!

Today Ethan first chose the fabulous frogs bag. He counted out frogs for each numbered mat. And afterwards he enjoyed shaking the ziplock bag with the frogs in it and making them "jump out".

Next up was the pom pom push. Who knew pushing pom poms through a hole could be so entertaining! It's definitely good pincer grasp practice.

We did a few other bags, including matching the popsicle sticks to their colors. Lately Ethan hasn't been wanting me to take any pictures and this was clearly the end of his tolerance for the camera. He did have fun with our bags today and I think Katelyn will enjoy them too!