This Busy Bag idea is so simple, but my kids loved it this week. It’s not exactly reusable — but it’s very, very inexpensive to put together, especially if you find a great deal on pasta!
Just put a bottle of glue, some pieces of cardstock, and some uncooked pasta (shapes and colors work best) into a ziptop bag. Or, feel free to skip the step of actually assembling the bag — but sometimes it’s easier to just go ahead and make up a bunch of Busy Bags so that you aren’t having to remember online ideas and assemble things on the fly.
Basically, just give your children the bag contents: some cardstock, glue, and uncooked pasta and let them have fun creating pictures. I’d recommend being close by if you have younger children, since glue and toddlers doesn’t always mix well. 😉
You can also do the same thing with uncooked beans. Or, if you want to jazz things up a bit and you only have plain pasta, you can dye your own pasta.
Note: As children can potentially choke on hard pasta, make sure to supervise them with this activity.
Find more Busy Bag ideas here.
Susan says
Beautiful visuals and instructions. I pin sites like yours that have all the information right on it. I hate the ones who just have links. Colorful and fun. Thanks.
Janet says
Last year I made up a wipes box with colored dried pasta and scoops for a busy box for my then 1.5 yr old to use during our homeschool time. Within a few months, he had eaten most of it!
Shelly says
I will have to set up a bag for my son. I am always looking for things to keep him busy while I am working with his sister on her homeschool.
Angi @ schneiderpeeps says
Last spring I made some dyed pasta for a project for our co-op and made way, way too much. So my 3 year old has had fun glueing them on paper and stringing them to make jewelry. Here’s how I dyed the pasta http://www.schneiderpeeps.com/2012/03/dyed-pasta.html
Heather says
Did this last year with my daughter’s preschool group with legumes and pasta. Fun. A few days later, I spent a lot of money at the doctor’s to get my son’s nose cleared out . . . .
Angi @ schneiderpeeps says
That is so funny! Although I’m sure it wasn’t at the time.
Sarah says
I agree. Thank you for the laugh!
Melissa says
We just did this with uncooked beans. My 8 year old created a jack o lantern with red lentils, my 4 year old made a ghost with white beans and my 2 year old, well, she lost interest fast. It was fun for the 2 older kids. I’ll have to have them try it with pasta. Thanks for the suggestion.
Angela R says
What a great idea! Can I suggest an idea for the pasta and dried beans in the absence of sales/coupons? Look for it in bulk! You can buy just the quantity you need and sometimes find the fun shapes/colors too. 😉