Hello there fellow blogger friends!
I've been away for awhile but I've had a good excuse. Our little family is growing! I haven't forgot about this blog though. It's a wonderful way for me to escape and enjoy my love of crafting.
Recently, in the past few months, I've noticed my blog traffic has increased quite a bit. I'm assuming Pinterest has helped with the increase in visitors. It's so wonderful to see that people are visiting and commenting. It has inspired me to get back into the blogging world. With a toddler and baby, I can't promise how regular it will be but I'll do my best.
Let's jump in...
Have you heard of these toddler busy bags that are all over Pinterest?
I was completely in the dark until I was invited to a busy bag swap a while back. And I have to say, I am so happy I was. These busy bags are amazing for entertaining little kiddos.
Basically, busy bags are just simple activities to entertain toddlers and pre-k children which also help them learn. They are wonderful because they are compact and can be thrown in your purse or diaper bag for times away from home when you need a little something to keep your wee one busy. I will share some ideas below but there are ideas all over Pinterest. Honestly, that is where most my ideas came from.
Just a little disclaimer: I have tried my best to link back to the original blogs where these ideas came from. Since I was finding them through Pinterest, sometimes it was hard to remember all the links I went to. There are so many awesome ideas and blogs out there! Although I'd like to claim them as my own, I did not come up with these awesome activities.
I will share the five activities (bags) that I have made and then also the activities (bags) I received from the busy bag swap. Obviously, I don't have links for the activities I didn't make but hopefully they can help inspire you.
To start out, I keep all my daughter's activities in this cute little bag. More on that in an upcoming post. Each activity is organized in a zip lock bag within.
The first activity that I made were popsicle stick puzzles. I didn't really use a tutorial or anything for these but if you're looking for one, check out this tutorial at Flip Chick Designs. Basically all I did was decoupage them onto the popsicle sticks and then cut them apart using a box cuter. I think the tutorial on the link above may be a much cleaner approach but either works.
Side Note: For anyone wondering, mixing equal parts of Elmer's glue and water works pretty good for decoupage and is much cheaper!
After I made the Popsicle Stick Puzzles, I was so inspired and wanted to make more! I found this idea for Block Puzzles over at All Our Days. She has a free printable but I had smaller blocks already on hand so I just made my own little cards. There are lots of different ways you could use this bag. All Our Days explains her approach with the cards but we've also simply counted and stacked the blocks and sorted them by color.
For a little fun, I made these cute felt Mr./Mrs. Potato Heads with this template over at Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows. This one has been a big hit with my daughter and can be made very inexpensively!
Immediately when I bought the pom poms for this next activity, my daughter wanted to play with them. I don't know what it is about pom poms but kids seem to love them. This activity is so simple to make, just buy some pom poms and print out the sheets. There are fun free printables all over the web. One I found were these Counting Sheets over at Confessions of a Homeschooler. Her blog has so many printables and fun activities, I hope to make many more. There is also a cute Rainbow over at Sew Fantastic to help learn colors.
The last bag I have created so far is an alphabet inspired one from Confessions of a Homeschooler. I told you she had lots of fun printables! All I did was print the pages and cut them out. There is an Alphabet Sound Game and an Alphabet Matching Game. This one is for older kids but there are so many different things that can be done. Confessions of a Homeschooler explains her ideas for the cards as well as how to play with the printable board. You can also simply match the letters with each other, either upper case to upper case or lower case to upper case. This is a good way to get them started learning the alphabet.
The next few ideas are bags that I received at my swap and can be used for inspiration. Thanks so much to the ladies who participated with me. It was fun to get together and great to have more bags when we got home.
Paint Sample Color Matching
Texture Matching Game
Pringles Can Pipe Cleaner Stringing
Velcro Popsicle Stick Shapes
Felt Clothesline
Bead Stringing (Also sorting and putting into bottle)
Pasta Sorting (By Color or Shape)
Pasta Stringing
Foam Lace Up Cards
If you have a toddler, are you hooked?
Some activities seem very simple but my toddler has done every single one of these and enjoyed it. Many help with motor skills while others are more geared toward learning/kindergarten prep.
These are great for snowy/rainy days too. They are so inexpensive and quick to make, they're definitely worth it! Even if you're toddler doesn't like one or picks it up fast and grows bored (which mine has), he/she is still learning and it's cheaper than buying new toys.
I hope I've inspired you and don't forget to look up busy bags on Pinterest for more ideas. Also, plan a busy bag swap so you can spread the word. :) Here's a couple more links too with fun free printables not shown above.
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