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You are here: Home / Kid Activities / Busy Bag Fun

Busy Bag Fun

By Jillian | May 17, 2012
Filed under: Kid Activities Tagged: preschoolers

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Have you heard of a busy bag party?  I had never heard of such a thing until I was invited to one.  Wow, was I missing out!  As it turns out busy bag parties are a lesson planning mama’s dream come true.

Wondering how a Busy Bag party works?  Lucky for you I have all the details.  Katelyn (our Busy Bag host) sent out an email inviting a group of women to join in this crafty experience.  Everyone was asked to pick a fun kid activity and make that activity seven times.  (seven guests, seven activities)  She set a date for the Busy Bag party and we all met to exchange our bags.  We all came in with 7 identical activities and left with 7 different activities put together with love.

I was so impressed with the effort everyone put into their busy bag activities.  I can’t wait to show you the fun stuff I brought home.  M and M haven’t seen any of it yet.  (So don’t tell!)  I thought this busy bag would be perfect for the first few weeks of summer.

Kacy (mom to a 2 1/2 year old little girl) made these fun Craft Stick Shapes inspired by Chasing Cheerios Making Shapes.  I love that she included a picture for the kids to copy and that each shape has a specific color.  Once the kids have mastered shapes these craft sticks could be used to form all types of objects.  Awesome!

Juliann (mom to a 1 1/2 year old girl) made these clever wood squares.  Each set came in a small draw sting bag.  What I love is that she made each set work for a wide range of ages.  Included in each bag are two sets of numbers from 0-9 and math signs.  For younger kids these squares can work as color matching  or number matching tiles. For older kids she made math signs or the tiles can be used for memory.  Big M is going to love this one.

Mercy (mom to a 2 year old girl) made this Popsicle Matching activity inspired by Planet of the Apels.  They are so cute I just want to sit down and play.  What I love most is that Mercy wrote the name of the color and attached a color swatch on the end of each craft stick.    Great for word recognition!

Britney (mom to a 1  1/2 year old girl) made this Dyed Pasta activity.  You can find the recipe for adding brilliant colors to noodles at Happy Hooligans.  I love, love, love that Britney include three types of lacing tools, and instructions for other activities that could be done with these noodles.

Penny (my sister and mom to 6, 5 and 2 year old girls) made one of our old standbys.  Contact Paper Window Art.  These can be made to fit any time of year and look gorgeous in the window.  Penny did a great job making this one perfect for spring with the flower shape and  pastel tissue paper.

Katelyn (the host and mom to a 3 1/2 year old boy and 1 1/2 year old girl) made ABC Scoops inspired by Little Page Turners.  These will be a great activity for Little M.  Katelyn attached them all with tape so that the younger kids will be able to use them for pretend play before they are ready for letter matching.  Great idea!

Busy-Bag-11-300x225

I made Spring Play Dough as my contribution.  Check it out!

Hosting tips:  1.  Katelyn used Google Docs for participation sign up.  We were all able to input our kids ages and our planned activity.  2.  We were given a little over a month to prepare our activities and Katelyn did a great job of reminding us along the way.  3. Katelyn provided us with a lot of Busy Bag ideas via Pintrest, which was very helpful!

Now that you know all about busy bags… it’s your turn to start planning!

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Comments

  1. Penny says

    May 17, 2012 at 8:31 am

    It was so much fun! I am also saving our busy bag stuff for when my big girls get out of school for the summer. Thanks Katelyn! Can’t wait to do it again!

    Reply
  2. The Iowa Farmer's Wife says

    May 17, 2012 at 8:23 pm

    Awesome post! Such great ideas for busy bags! Thanks for sharing! 🙂

    Reply
  3. Kara says

    May 18, 2012 at 4:45 am

    I will be using some of these ideas for sure, great post! I just posted on my blog some other busy bag ideas 🙂

    http://karasclassroom.blogspot.com/2012/05/whats-in-waiting-bag-for-mayjune.html

    Reply
    • Jillian says

      May 19, 2012 at 7:49 am

      Your waiting bag is so cool! I’m pinning it for summer use. We are going to set up “rest time” to try keeping ourselves scheduled. These would be perfect!

      Reply
  4. kara says

    May 18, 2012 at 4:48 am

    Great ideas! Here are some more on my blog 🙂

    http://karasclassroom.blogspot.com/2012/05/whats-in-waiting-bag-for-mayjune.html

    Reply
  5. Jen@plain vanilla mom says

    May 18, 2012 at 5:03 am

    This fantastic! I’m just starting to hear about busy bag parties. Great post! Thanks. Pinning for future reference 🙂

    Reply
    • Jillian says

      May 19, 2012 at 7:46 am

      YEAH!!! Thanks for the pin!

      Reply
  6. Hannah says

    May 18, 2012 at 7:24 am

    Im loving busy bags, especially like the numbers and the way they can be used by different ages.

    Reply
    • Jillian says

      May 19, 2012 at 7:45 am

      Isn’t that brilliant!?!? Thanks for the comment. 😉

      Reply
  7. maryanne @ mama smiles says

    May 20, 2012 at 5:17 am

    I love the popsicle stick matching activity!

    Reply
  8. Polly Speers says

    July 20, 2012 at 12:36 am

    I love these ideas! I have a little back pack I take on trips with my two year old but these would be such a good addition! Love the ice lolly matching!

    Reply
  9. arlene franklin says

    October 1, 2012 at 3:29 pm

    Love the idea there are great

    Reply
  10. TheBargainBabe says

    December 3, 2012 at 1:49 pm

    AGH! How fun, I want to have a busy bag party! Hmmm…going to pass this along to my mops leader and see if we can do one. 🙂

    Reply
    • Jillian says

      December 5, 2012 at 11:07 am

      It was so much fun! I hope she goes for it…

      Reply
  11. suzsnne says

    April 3, 2013 at 11:26 am

    Such great ideas!! Going to see if we can start this in my area!!! Anyone teaches pro 3 or 4. Email me. Thsnks

    Reply
  12. Denise S says

    June 9, 2013 at 2:20 pm

    How do I do the wood squares with the numbers? I love that but I am not very “crafty”.. Thanks! Love this idea!

    Reply
    • Jillian says

      June 10, 2013 at 7:45 am

      I would look at the craft store (in the wood section) or you could use the back of old scrabble tiles.

      Reply
  13. Joy Bruce says

    February 25, 2014 at 7:45 am

    I clicked on your “Contact Paper Window Art” and it just took me to your main page. I tried under Art, Spring, etc. and haven’t found it. Could you help me navigate? Thanks!

    Reply
    • Jillian says

      February 25, 2014 at 2:36 pm

      Here you go Joy! Thanks for asking. 🙂
      https://confidencemeetsparenting.com/giveaway-and-contact-window-hearts/

      Reply

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I'm Jill Riley. I have a son and a daughter (both in the tween years), a very handsome hubby and the laziest puppy ever!
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