Busy Bags

A few weeks ago, I had no idea what a Busy Bag was.  Now, my life has been changed.

I got an invitation to a Busy Bag Party.  For all I knew, a Busy Bag was a bag full of snakes.  But, if it meant a chance to hang out with girlfriends, I was definitely in. 

Step 1: Figure out what a Busy Bag is.

They are apparently very popular with moms of small children, since I found about a million blogs that talked about them.  Good thing I'm finally catching up with the times, thanks to my friends.  Luckily there are no snakes involved.  A Busy Bag is simply a ziplock bag with an activity that would keep a 2-4 year old busy for a bit without sticking them in front of the TV.  The idea of the party (besides hanging out with friends) was that each of us (14 friends) would choose a Busy Bag and make 14 of them.  Then, at the party we would swap and you would leave the party with 14 Busy Bags for your child to use.  Brilliant!  

Adam has already been playing with his a lot.  Here's the Bag that I made.  It's number cards with dots and you place beans on the dots.  It works on fine motor skills as well as counting.  It seemed so simple to me, but the kids love doing it.

 He's busy!

 Here's another one of his favorites - using the pinchers to put the pom poms into the ice cube tray.  Just a note: Even though Adam knows what maracas are and has even played them before, he calls the pinchers maracas.  I don't know why, but he likes playing this game in the bathroom.  Maybe because the first time I showed it to him I was trying to get him to stay on the potty.  (It worked...25 minutes doing "maracas" and pom poms on the potty.  Did not pee even a little bit the entire time.  We are not potty trained, needless to say.)

 

Clara likes this game, too.  Here she is playing her own version (minus the "maracas").

Put it in!

 

I'm lovin' the Busy Bags.