I just realized I had not made Big Red any new busy bags and even let him play with our busy bag collection. Yikes, what a mommy fail! You do not realize all of the busy bags we own since I have not blogged about all the ones from last year’s busy bag swap or from the swaps when Big Red was under 10 mths old. I promise to do so to help give you ideas for making and organizing your busy bags.
Princess had a friend over and they were looking for something to do. I felt I might as well put her friend to work. I grabbed the leftover vehicle beads that I bought for the Letter Sound Swap last year. It looked like there was enough for the entire alphabet and I was right! 40 beads were left in the package I had bought at JoAnn’s. I grabbed a Sharpie marker and asked the friend to write one letter per vehicle. This package has planes, trains, tug boat, and model T beads that are big enough to fit on a skewer stick.
ABC Vehicles on a Stick Busy Bag
Here’s what the finished product looks like-
Vehicles Color Match Busy Bag
I grabbed a couple of skewer sticks and cut them down to fit into the 3-ring binder pencil pouch. These are what we put our busy bags in for on-the-go. Makes them so easy to take with us when they are on a loose leaf ring! I grabbed markers that matched the vehicles: green, pink, orange, yellow, blue, purple, and green. I quickly colored the skewer sticks so they would have time to try BEFORE Big Red had a chance to use them.
He played with them like a champ! He got right to work matching the colors of vehicle onto each corresponding stick! He was done very quickly which wasn’t a surprise to me. This activity is too easy for him but will be great for friends or Lil’ Red next year.
ABC Vehicles Parking Garage
I realized I had foam from the dollar store also leftover from last year’s swap. I quickly grabbed them and made parking lots that matched the ABC Vehicles. I started by sorting the vehicle by color and then figured out how many parking spots each piece of foam would need. I grabbed a sticky page flag that was just a bit bigger then the vehicles to use as a template to trace. I grabbed a sharpie marker and set to work marking the foam. Once the foam was marked I added the letter in a random order to the parking spots.
They turned out super cute even though I made a few boo boos!
If you are out of some of the supplies we used or do not have a craft store nearby then here are my affiliate links to Amazon for your shopping convenience:
Foam-Sheets 5-1/2-Inch-by-8-1/2-Inch, 50-Pack, Rainbow Colors
Mini Mobiles Plastic Beads 1/4 Pounds Per Pack
Farberware Classic 12-Inch Bamboo Skewers, 75-Count
3-Ring Zippered Pencil Pouch Case with Clear Window
Sharpie Permanent Markers, Fine Point, Black
Have you jumped onto the Busy Bags bandwagon? Not sure where to begin? Check out Busy Bags 101 to give you step by step ideas. Stop on over to more kids enjoying Busy Bags in Action. In case you missed the post that started it all 10 Busy Bags I Want to Make is a simple round-up from pinterest.
YES- I do have pinterest boards all about BUSY BAGS, lol.
Follow Thaleia @something2offer.com Something2Offer’s board Busy Bag Swap on Pinterest.
If you are really loving all these ideas PLEASE leave a comment! That will encourage me to finish some more Busy Bags posts as well as some of my other 260 drafts, lol. Gotta know what you all like so I am not boring you but inspiring you!
Places I might have shared this post:
Preschool & Kindergarten Community, Weekly Kids Co-Op, Show & Share Saturday, Pinning Party, Sharing Saturday
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Jess Benoit says
This is such a neat idea! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Shecki @something2offer.com Greatly Blessed says
Those are great beads! Where did you find them? Katie likes putting beads on pipe cleaners. I’ve never tried skewers. I bet knitting needles would work, too. 🙂
ThaleiaMaher says
I bought them at JoAnn’s using a 40% off coupon but I think Hobby Lobby or Michael’s may have them as well:)
Emma @something2offer.com P is for Preschooler says
Those beads are perfect for busy bags! Great find!
Tshanina | Thrifty T's Treasures says
What a fabulous idea, and one that the kids will love to play with time and time again!
ThaleiaMaher says
Since my youngest 2 are boys I am hoping these get lots of use before we pass them on:)