Busy Bag Swap {Part 3}: The Activities

Are you wondering what this Busy Bag Swap is all about?!  You can catch up by reading Part 1 and Part 2!

Whether you are looking to host a Swap of your own or just create some activities for your young one, the following is a list of 21 activities to choose from!  We completed 20 of the activities for our Swap. 

 

If applicable, the link to the original site where we found the idea is under the title of the activity.  If you follow those links, you will find a multitude of other ideas for activities! 

There is also a brief description on the project and a list of what materials you need to complete the activity.  If you choose to do a Swap, this is everything already laid out for you!  All you need to do is email your moms with a link to this post for them to choose their activity and they have details, links, and printables ready for them to use! 

You will also notice that some of the materials have a asterisk next to them.  When getting our Swap together we thought it best to make an Amazon Wish List for the moms to order the supplies needed to help the process move along smoothly.  For some materials, there is more than one option.  It was not mandatory that our moms ordered from our list; it was just intended to help save our mom's some time in locating the materials that they needed.  You can find our Busy Bag Wish List HERE!  Feel free to share with your moms if needed!

1.        Popsicle Stick Puzzle:  Make a puzzle out of a picture and Popsicle sticks.  Modpodge your picture to your sticks, then cut them apart.  You can also label the sticks with numbers to help with number recognition/order.                      

      

       a.      Any 4x6 image.   You can print the image on the above link or print any picture. 

                   b.      Popsicle sticks* (The jumbo size sticks are a great size; 10 per puzzle!!)
                   c.       Mod podge*
                   d.      Exacto knife/box cutter
                   e.      Foam brush


2.      Alphabet Match w/Plastic Eggs:    Letter recognition.  Capital Letter "A" on the top, lowercase "a" on the bottom.  10-12 letters to include the 5 vowels.      

a.     Plastic eggs* (We recommend using the same colored eggs in your bag, so your child learns to recognize the letters and is not color matching.)

                  b.      Permanent Marker
                   c.  Optional: For storage you can use an egg carton vs a Ziploc bag


3.      Number Match w/Plastic Eggs:  Number Recognition/Counting.  The number "3" on top, and 3 dots on the bottom.  10-12 eggs total.

                  a.     Plastic eggs*
                   b.    Permanent Marker
                   c.  Optional:  For storage use an egg carton vs a Ziploc bag

 

4.   Block Patterns:  Draw, color, and laminate cards with assorted patterns and numbers (could also be done on Word, then printed out).  Leave some patterns completed, just to be copied, and some, with a mystery block to complete the pattern.  10 different patterns.
                  

                   a.    Color Printer (Printable found HERE)
                   b.      Laminator
                   c.       Snap Cubes* or Duplo Blocks (enough to make patterns possible). 


5.      I Can Spell:  Words printed on paper and laminated with foam or plastic letter for the kids to match up.  In the bag I received I have the words....cat, how, is, pie, and, the, bus, box, run, two.        

                  a.      Printer
                   b.      laminator
                   c.       Foam Letters*


6.      Rigatoni Stringing:  Just an activity to work on a child's motor skills, or to help him learn his/her colors.  Colored noodles that your child strings onto a piece of yarn.     

                   a.      Rigatoni noodles
                   b.      A way to color/dye them:  link can be found HERE.
                                        i.      Rubbing alcohol
                                         ii.      Food coloring
                                        iii.      Ziploc bags
                    c.       Yarn
                    d.    Pipe cleaners*.  (Our mom genius-ly tied a small piece of a pipe cleaner onto the end of the yarn to make it easy to thread the yarn through the noodle!)


7.      Brown Bear, Brown Bear Matching Puzzles:  Pictures of different animals cut in half and laminated for the kids to match together.

a.      Color Printer (Printable on the above link on pages 14-16)

                  b.      Laminator
                   c.   Scissors
                  
 
8.     Pouring:  An activity to practice motor skills.                    

a.      Funnel

                   b.      Beans or beads  (make sure they feed through the funnel easily)
                   c.       2 Cups.  We used Specimen Cups*.
                   d.   Plastic spoon

*Mom might want to add a small plastic container  to this bag to help contain any loose beans during play time.


9.       Transferring :  Another activity to practice motor skills.                  

a.      Tongs*

                   b.      Ice cube tray or egg carton

c.       Pom poms*

                

10.   Felt Rainbow:  Have your child make a rainbow while learning their colors.                

a.      Printer  (Printable found here.)

                   b.      Laminator
                   c.       Felt
                   d.    Optional: Velcrow*.  It might help to put velcro pieces on each side of the "bow" and at the top to help keep them in place. 


11.  MagnetFaces:  Just a fun activity.  Two blank faces and lots of facial pieces to choose from for your child to create a face!

a.      Printer.  Printable for faces and facial pieces.  (Love, yours truly.)

                   b.      Laminator
                   c.       Magnets*
                   d.   Optional:  Magnetic Sheet* or Tin. 

*You can print the faces/facial pieces directly onto the sheets and then cut them out.  It wasn't in my budget to do this for all 10 moms, so I bought small adhesive magnets to go on the back of all the facial pieces.  I added two small magnets to each bag for the mom to attach to the back of each face, if they choose to.  The faces can be placed on the refrigerator or on a cookie sheet for play time.  To make this activity travel friendly the mom has the option of printing the faces onto a magnetic sheet after the fact.  In the original post there were no faces...the creator placed all the pieces in a small round tin for storage and play time.

 
 

12.  HomemadeFishing Game:  A magnetized fishing game.  (This has been a huge hit with our boys!)

                      

a.      Construction paper or foam*

                  b.      Laminator (if you use construction paper)
                   c.    Optional:  Safety Pins
                   c.       Magnets*
                   d.      Yarn
                   e.      Dowl rod

*Our mom choose to use a type of safety pin and stick it through the fish's mouth; only using one large magnet on the end of the fishing pole. 


13.  Button Snake:  Approximately 20 small rectangle felt pieces with a small slit cut in the middle.  One piece of felt sewn to the end of a piece of ribbon (about 8" long), with a button sewn to the other end of the ribbon.  The kids are just supposed to sew the button through all the felt pieces. 

                 a.  felt
                 b.  ribbon
                 c.  button
                 d.  scissors
                 e.  needle and thread (Optional: sewing machine)

 

14.   Hot Glue Rubbing Plates:  5 pieces of cardboard with different designs on them made with hot glue.  The kids then take paper and crayon and rub over the design. 

                  a. cardboard
                  b.  Optional: Spray Paint
                  c. glue gun
                  d. crayons
                  e. paper (will need to be replaced by mom as needed)
                 
*Our mom choose to spray paint the cardboard pieces different colors and she put designs on both the front and back of the cardboard. 


15. MeasureIt: An activity for measuring different pictures with different items.

                   a.  Printer.  Printable found here.
                   b. various pieces of string, twine, ribbon, straws, etc

 

16.   Spin and Spell:  A spelling game for beginners.  Each nut contains a different set of letters and the child spins them around till a word can be made.  Word cards can be printed out for those learning so they can match up the letters on the nuts with the letters on the cards.

a.      large bolt

                   b.      1 screw on nut
                   c.       3 larger nuts that will spin around bolt

d.      Stick on letters*, or a label maker
1st nut: FLMNRS
2nd nut: AEIUO
3rd nut: DGPTS

                  e.     please print off cards with possible word combinations  (printable HERE)

*If you can't purchase enough stickers for all the bolts, a label maker is a great alternative!  A permanent marker won't work.  :(

     17.   EyeSpy Bottle:  A small plastic bottle with small items for the child to find hidden in the rice.  Include a list or pictures of the items the child should be looking for.

 

                   a.  Small plastic bottle with the label removed - maybe a mini Gatorade bottle since they have wide mouths, but depending on what you add inside a water bottle would probably work
                    b.  glue gun or gorilla glue to glue the cap on
                    c.  rice
                    d.  small items that will fit in your bottle.
                    e.  Optional:  Camera, printer, & laminator to take pictures of the items going in the bottle.

 

18.  Lacing Cards:  Different shapes cut out of craft foam with holes punched evenly all around the sides.  Yarn or shoe laces for the child to lace the shapes with.

                    a. Craft foam*
                    b. Shoe laces, string
                    c. Printable from link, or just general shapes

19.  Pattern:  Different pattern sequences.  Extra pieces for the child to finish the pattern.  Minimum of 5 different cards/patterns with enough extra pieces to continue patterns.

                     a.  Printer (Printable found HERE.)
                     b.  Laminator
                     c.  Velcro dots to attach the extra pieces*
                   

20.   Cube Counting Tray:  An ice cube tray with each cube numbered and a bag of small items like beads or beans.  The child would put the corresponding number of beads into the ice cube trays.

            a.  Ice cube tray or egg carton
            b.  Magic Marker or label maker
            c.  Beans or beads*
 

 21.  Pipe Cleaner Beading:  Different colored pipe cleaners and beads.  Child is then supposed to thread the colored beads onto the same colored pipe cleaners.  If your child is too young for color recognition it’s great for motor skills.  You can also add number learning to this activity by specifying how many beads you want him/her to put on each pipe cleaner.

a.       Pipe Cleaners*

             b.      Beads*

  Whether you are choosing to do a Swap or just make some activities of your own, hopefully these posts will help to make it all easier.  :)  Let me know if you have any questions!!!