The Pinchers & Pom-Poms from our Busy Bag Swap has been a fun way to practice fine motor skills.
The Busy Bag that came in our swap had pom-poms, colored paper clips, and tongs. You should be able to get all of these items at the dollar store, if you don’t already have them on hand. Or, you can improvise using things you have.
The object of the Busy Bag is to use the pinchers to pick up the pom-poms and paper clips. I had Kaitlynn put them in a bowl. You could have a child sort them in piles by color. Or count out a certain number of objects.
Kaitlynn also enjoyed trying to pick up the pom-poms with the paper clips.
Find more Busy Bag ideas here.
Guest post by Willa from Armstrong Family Fare
Recently there have been a lot of wonderful busy bag ideas shared here. A lot of them look like they would be something my two-year old son would enjoy, however I did not have many of the items needed to make them on hand.
I am very supportive of spending a little money on fun education activities, but we’re currently working on our very own BHAG and trying to cut as many corners as possible. I thought about an activity my son might enjoy and came up with my own, the Twist Tie Busy Bag!
You’ll need the following items:
- A handful of twist ties (20 or so)
- A small bottle
Have your child straighten the twist ties and then put them into the bottle one by one. My son loved it and thought it was a lot of fun!
He always wants to play with twist ties, so this activity allows him just that all while improving his finger dexterity and hand eye coordination! All of this fun was capable with items already available in my home.
Willa lives in Ohio with her husband, Eric and son, Graham (2 years) and daughter, Ellie (5 months). Willa shares her favorite recipes and passion for spending time in the kitchen on her new blog, Armstrong Family Fare.
The Snowflake Builder Busy Bag has been a hit–even though it’s not exactly winter around here yet. 
It’s a simple idea to put together, only requires a small amount of felt, and the snowflake building possibilities are almost endless.
You can print off snowflake patterns here for your child to follow, or you can encourage them to create their own patterns.
Kaitlynn asked if she could glue her felt pieces to the board to make a permanent snowflake to display. While I told her that I didn’t want her to do that just yet, it gave me the idea that I’m going to cut more shapes out of white paper and then give them to her with a glue stick and a dark sheet of paper and let her design and glue the pieces on the dark paper to create her own paper snowflake.
See more details on how to create a Felt Snowflake Busy Bag here (you might consider laminating the patterns, if you want them to last longer). Find more Busy Bag ideas here.
Many of you have asked for Busy Bag Ideas for preschoolers, so here’s one that Kaitlynn (4) has enjoyed (this was one of the Busy Bags in the Busy Bag Swap Box):
The Number Wheel is just a simple laminated circle, divided into ten “slices” plus ten clothespins with numbers 1-10 written on them. Each slice on the Number Wheel has a different number of dots in it that correspond with the numbers on the clothespins.
The object of this activity is for the child to match up the dots in each slices with the numbers on the clothespins. It not only teaches basic math and matching skills, but also has some fine motor skills practice thrown in, too.
Download a free printable Number Wheel here. There are also some variations on the Clothespin Number Wheel idea here. Find more Busy Bag ideas here.
Okay, so I have to admit that I wasn’t too enthused about this Busy Bag from our Busy Bag Swap. It seemed so simple that I figured no one would find it too exciting. Well, was I ever wrong! This is, by far, Silas’ favorite Busy Bag Activity to date.
He has taken the plastic colored eggs in and out of the egg carton more times than I can care to count. And he’s enjoyed every minute of it!
We were also thrilled to discover that Silas could match all of the colors of the eggs to the colors colored on the bottom of the egg carton. The girls and I had so much fun cheering him on as he did it right and then we couldn’t wait until Jesse got home so we could show him, too!
See more details on creating an Egg Carton Busy Bag here. Find more Busy Bag Ideas here.
Another fun Busy Bag we received in our Busy Bag Swap box was a “Pom Pom Stuff It In” activity, as Brenda called it. I’m quite sure what to call it, but let’s just say that Silas loved this activity.
It’s basically a small plastic tub of some sort (you could use a yogurt or sour cream container) with a hole cut in it to push pom poms through (you can find pom poms really inexpensively at the dollar store or at Hobby Lobby).
Silas had so much fun stuffing these in. When he was done, he dumped them all out and started over again. And he’s done it again and again like that!
This simple activity kept him happily occupied for quite a long while during our homeschooling time this past week and he hasn’t seemed to lose any interest or excitement about it yet!
See more details on creating a Pom Pom Stuff It In (or whatever you want to call it!) here. Find more Busy Bag Ideas here.
Another fun Busy Bag we received in our Busy Bag Swap box was a button snake.
This simple activity just uses a ribbon with a button sewn on one end and a piece of felt sewn on the other. Cut out squares of felt and cut buttonhole-like slits in them.
This is a perfect thing to keep in your purse or diaper bag to pull out and hand to your child when you’re waiting in a waiting room or at an event where they need to be sitting quietly for any length of time.
Variations: Encourage your child to string the felt in pattern using a few different colors. You could also cut out the felt pieces in different shapes.
See this post for more detailed instructions on how to make a Button Snake.
Many of you asked if I could share details of the Busy Bags we received in our Busy Bag Swap so that you could get ideas for possible Busy Bags you could put together for your children. I know how I’m always on the lookout for new ideas for fun learning activities–especially ones that are simple and inexpensive–so as I have space here over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing some of the ideas with you.
The Pool Noodle Stringing Busy Bag was a very simple idea and it went over well. Just cut up some pool noodles (you can probably find them on clearance at this time of the year!) into one-inch sections and put them into a ziptop bag along with a piece of thick string or rope.
When you’re ready to use, just pull out the bag and have your child string the noodles onto the string or rope. I’d advise watching your child closely while they do this exercise since there is a string/rope involved. (Silas worked on it right next to me while I taught Kathrynne and Kaitlynn some of their homeschool lessons.)
See more pictures and variations on the Pool Noodle Stringing Busy Bag idea here.
We signed up to be a part of another Busy Bag Swap recently–this time doing a felt cupcake Busy Bags. And since all of you enjoyed the Clothesline Busy Bag downloadable I shared in May, Joy from FiveJs.com put together another pattern, instructions, and download for the Cupcake Busy Bag.
If you’re unfamiliar with Busy Bags, basically, they are ziptop bags with a simple project or game to keep young children busy. It’s so helpful to have things like this put together to pull out when I need to be working one-on-one homeschooling Kathrynne or when the children come to me asking what they can do. Instead of having to wrack my brain, I can just pull out a pre-packaged project and get them started on it.
Kaitlynn (4) especially loved making the cupcakes. She’s our artistic child who is already trying to concoct recipes on her own, so this was right up her alley!
We bought the felt at Hobby Lobby and the bags at Dollar Tree. All told, these definitely cost less than $1 per bag.
Our box of 30 bags ready to ship!
Free Downloadable Cupcake Busy Bag Kit
If you’d like to put together a Cupcake Busy Bag for your children, you can download the complete kit here. It includes free patterns, instructions on putting together the bag, instructions to stick inside the bag, and some ideas on variations of ways to use this bag. Enjoy!
