Busy bags
Busy bags are small activities that fit into a ziplock ‘bag’ and you can store for moments that your child need to be kept ‘busy’. The activities are easy to make and inexpensive, generally around 50-100THB. The bags are great to take with you when you go for a road trip or to restaurants. Here are a few simple busy bag ideas with instructions; Popsicle stick puzzle, number wheel and a pasta necklace.
Age
From 1 year to 4 years
What you need
Popsicle stick puzzle
Number wheel
Popsicle stick puzzle; cut the picture in strips that are the size of the popsicle sticks and glue them onto the popsicles.
Number wheel; cut a circle out of card board and divide the circle in 12 equal pieces by pen. Write the numbers 1 to 12 onto each section of the circle and do the same on each of the cloth pins. You could also make a colour wheel on the back-side with again 12 different colours and the same 12 colours on the cloth pins.
Pasta necklace; decorate the pasta with the colour pens.
Play
Popsicle stick puzzle: have your child make the puzzle, they’ll love to do it over and over again!
Number wheel: have your child match the numbers on the cloth pins with the numbers on the wheel. Or the different colours with the colours on the pins, if you added the colour wheel on the back-side.
Pasta necklace: have your child string the penne pasta onto the shoe lace to make it into a necklace.
Add-ons for more fun play
The possibilities for busy bags ideas are endless; alphabet match-up games, pizza factory using felt, fishing game, pipe cleaner toy. By organizing a busy bag swap you don’t have to do all the work yourself. Invite a few parents who all make one specific busy bag for all kids attending the swap. You hand out your busy bags and get one in return. If there are 12 kids at the swap, you go home with 12 different busy bags (including yours).
Clean up
Once finished with the activity, just simply put it all back in the bag and store it for another time you need it.
Educational
Each activity is built around improving a skill; number recognition, fine motor skill development, spelling etc. Depending on your child needs and abilities you can create a busy bag around a specific skill. If you search for ‘busy bags’ online, you will find a lot of different ideas for different age groups.
Age
From 1 year to 4 years
What you need
Popsicle stick puzzle
- Popsicle sticks
- Picture
- Scissors
- Glue
Number wheel
- Card board
- 12 cloth pins
- Colour pens
- Scissors
- Shoe lace
- Penne pasta
- Colour pens
Popsicle stick puzzle; cut the picture in strips that are the size of the popsicle sticks and glue them onto the popsicles.
Number wheel; cut a circle out of card board and divide the circle in 12 equal pieces by pen. Write the numbers 1 to 12 onto each section of the circle and do the same on each of the cloth pins. You could also make a colour wheel on the back-side with again 12 different colours and the same 12 colours on the cloth pins.
Pasta necklace; decorate the pasta with the colour pens.
Play
Popsicle stick puzzle: have your child make the puzzle, they’ll love to do it over and over again!
Number wheel: have your child match the numbers on the cloth pins with the numbers on the wheel. Or the different colours with the colours on the pins, if you added the colour wheel on the back-side.
Pasta necklace: have your child string the penne pasta onto the shoe lace to make it into a necklace.
Add-ons for more fun play
The possibilities for busy bags ideas are endless; alphabet match-up games, pizza factory using felt, fishing game, pipe cleaner toy. By organizing a busy bag swap you don’t have to do all the work yourself. Invite a few parents who all make one specific busy bag for all kids attending the swap. You hand out your busy bags and get one in return. If there are 12 kids at the swap, you go home with 12 different busy bags (including yours).
Clean up
Once finished with the activity, just simply put it all back in the bag and store it for another time you need it.
Educational
Each activity is built around improving a skill; number recognition, fine motor skill development, spelling etc. Depending on your child needs and abilities you can create a busy bag around a specific skill. If you search for ‘busy bags’ online, you will find a lot of different ideas for different age groups.