Busy bags are fantastic to have on hand for quiet time, waiting rooms, church, etc. I like to have fun themed ones to take out for different seasons. This button practice busy bag practices and encourages fine motor skills, while allowing for some creativity and imagination when decorating the scene.
A no sew portable road busy bag for kids.
One of my very creative mommy friends, Jenni (she was the one who created this gorgeous tree skirt this past Christmas), organized a “Busy Bag Swap” to take place later today. It’s such a neat idea: a group of us moms are making busy bags (inexpensive, creative little crafts or games that can fit into...
Use engineering and math skills to build, measure and graph the distance the car rolls across the floor in this fun STEAM activity for kids.
My pre-k students, ages 4 1/2 - 5 1/2 years old, do not nap, but the younger ones do. The pre-k's formerly went into the preschool room, but they have SOOOooooo lost privilege due to inappropriate conduct. So now, they are stuck doing quiet activities within my direct sight. I do not want this time to be wasted, and I need them engaged so that boredom doesn't nudge them towards more inappropriate behavior. These children are gifted and/or advanced for their age, so the classic preschool busy bags just won't cut it. I want busy bags that: Hold a (fairly) unique activity Work a specific skill set at multiple levels Have more than one mode of play or Be dynamic, each play being different Are appealing visually and through play Can be contained within about a 1 square foot area Fit easily within a quart sized Ziploc Do not require adult assistance beyond initial instruction They have access to file folder games that use laminated manipulatives. I wanted the buys bags to be different. So far, they LOVE them! They would play with them other parts of the day, but are only allowed to during nap time. Each one works fine motor skills, so I did not list that under SKILLS. Most also work logic/reasoning, but...I'm kinda partial to that one. Here's the ones we have so far and those pending. Each one is explained, in order, below. Alligator Chomp Build and Add Butterfly Symmetry Card Facts Color Links Fish and Chips Frozen Flakes Geo Board Pumpkin Faces (seasonal) Puzzle Race to Odd & Even Ribbon Weaving Silly Sentences Punctuation Sounds & Count Stick Figures Write the Facts Tanagrams In the works, I'll add to post when completed: Animal Habitats I Know Instruments Food Group Gulp Fraction Fun Musical Notation Types of Terrain ALLIGATOR CHOMP Includes: Craft foam alligator, numbers 2-10 playing cards Instructions: Children children place 2 cards down and place the alligator greater than or less than to CHOMP the bigger number. Used cards are placed in a discard pile and new ones drawn. Advanced: use 2 cards added or subtracted for each side. Notes: This may seem rather easy, but they like it, and it teaches a new skill. I have more advanced versions in mind for the future. Skills: Visual quantity identification, greater than/lesser than, 1-1 correspondence counting, logic/reasoning BUILD and ADD Includes: 11 each of 2 colors of unit blocks, laminated activity cards, dry erase marker Instructions: Follow instructions for building, add, write the sum in the box Advanced: write the number that comes before and the number that comes after on either side of the box. Notes: This was a free download that I can't find. If I do I'll add the link, but you can definitely see how it's done. This is a little easy for these children, but it's good practice for writing their numbers. Skills: 1-1 correspondence counting, logic/reasoning, word problems, writing, math vocabulary BUTTERFLY SYMMETRY Includes: 1 cream felt play mat, pattern cards, felt pattern pieces Instructions: Choose a card, place it in the middle of the felt mat, use the pattern pieces to mirror the design on the card. Notes: There is a free download for this activity, but I decided to make my own so I could change out the pieces or increase the complexity to keep it interesting. Skills: Symmetry, logic/reasoning, visual/spatial, observation, geometry CARD FACTS Includes: 2 sets of cards 1-10, laminated addition/subtraction card, dry erase marker Instructions: Choose 2 cards, if doing subtraction place the higher number card on the left, place them above the add/subtract card, write the equation Advanced: use 2 cards added together to create each number. Skills: Number identification, writing, 1-1 correspondance counting, creating and solving equations COLOR LINKS Includes: 1 set of color cards, 1 set of color links Instructions: Choose a card, collect and button that link, choose another card, and add that link to the other one. Advanced: put the cards in alphabetical order prior to putting the links together. Notes: It may seem rather easy, but keeping the links going in the correct direction is more difficult than you'd think. Skills: Color words, color identification, logic/reasoning FISH & CHIPS Includes: 6 each of 3 colors of poker chips, pattern cards Instructions: Choose a card, create that pattern, extend that pattern until you run out of chips Notes: These go from the simple AB pattern to AABBCC. These kids are whizzes at this, but it's good reinforcement. Skills: Patterning, logic/reasoning FROZEN FLAKES Includes: 2 game boards, 1 die, 6 each of two colors of chips Instructions: 1-2 player, roll the die and cover the number rolled, if the number is already covered, lose that turn. Advanced: use 2 die and you have create a double, add, or subtract. Notes: Yeah, not that challenging, but they love it, so it keeps them BUSY. For the younger ones we place the die in a small plastic container with a lid to keep it contained. Free download from Activity Mom. Skills: 1-1 correspondence counting, number vs. quantity, number identification, taking turns GEO BOARD Includes: 1 geo board, 2-3 of each size of rubber band Instructions: Have fun Notes: I purposefully placed just a couple of each size/color rubber bands into here. When they have access to a LOT of rubber bands, they just go nuts with them and start tossing them about. Fewer resources make them more precious, and the children have to work harder to create interesting designs. I was going to include cards for them to match, but right now they enjoy just creating their own designs. Cards may come later. There are a ton of them out there. Skills: geometry, grid manipulation, logic/reasoning, creative expression, architecture PUMPKIN FACES (seasonal) Includes: Pumpkin face cards, pumpkin face mat, pumpkin face pieces Instructions: Pull a card and make a matching face. These range from easy to hard. Notes: Harder than it may look, as the pieces often need to be flipped and rotated Skills: Logic/reasoning, geometry, visual/spatial, observation PUZZLE Includes: 1 puzzle Instructions: Put it together Notes: Changed out regularly, harder puzzles have a picture included, but all their harder puzzles are now missing pieces, thus the busy bags... Skills: logic/reasoning, visual/spatial RACE TO ODD & EVEN Includes: 1 play mat, odd and even number cards Instructions: Choose a card, place it on the appropriate odd or even side. First side to be completed WINS! Advanced: Put the numbers in numerical order when done. Notes: They truly treat this as a race with one side winning. I can change the cards out frequently to keep it interesting and advancing. It is self-correcting. To hinge the two sides, I laminate them separately and use heavy duty packing tape on the back side of the seam. Skills: Odd/even, logic/reasoning, number recognition. RIBBON WEAVING Includes: 1 cream felt play mat, pattern cards, felt pattern pieces Instructions: Choose a card, place it in the middle of the felt mat, use the pattern pieces to mirror the design on the card. Advanced: Create rainbow order. Notes: A seemingly simple activity, but it works a lot of higher-thinking skills Skills: creative expression, logic/reasoning, patterning, sensory stimulation SILLY SENTENCES PUNCTUATION Includes: 1 cream felt play mat, pattern cards, felt pattern pieces Instructions: Choose a card, place it in the middle of the felt mat, use the pattern pieces to mirror the design on the card. Advanced: Some sentences are questionable between an exclamation point and period, leaving it open to their reasoning. Notes: I think they like this better because they helped create the silly sentences. Skills: Reading, grammar, punctuation, logic/reasoning SOUNDS & COUNT Includes: 1 set of cards, red/green/blue clothespins Instructions: Choose a card, place a green clothespin on the beginning sound, a red clothespin on the ending sound (if applicable), and a blue clothespin on the number of items in the picture Advanced: when I make these cards, I increase the difficulty by putting very similar sounds on the same card, making them work a little harder for it. Notes: We have sets of these cards for all our themes. The newer themes include beginning sound, ending sound and number. These are changed out monthly at minimum. It takes a good amount of clothes pins. This amount only does half of the cards, then they have to take them all off to do the other half. I just put a dot on these ones with sharpies, but they aren't hard to paint. Skills: Phonics/letter, 1-1 correspondence counting, number/quantity, logic/reasoning, observation, visual/spatial STICK FIGURES Includes: 2 each of 4 colors of craft sticks, design cards Instructions: Choose a card, create the design, or create your own design Notes: The cards range in difficulty from fairly easy to very difficult. Even I find this one challenging if trying to get all the over/unders correct. Skills: Logic/reasoning, observation, visual/spatial, trial/error, patterns, geometry TANAGRAMS Includes: Set of uppercase tanagram cards, tanagram blocks to create all the cards Instructions: Choose a card, re-create with tanagram blocks, or create your own design Advanced: make your own cards without the shape indicators, or just black/white. Notes: The tanagram cards are a free download. I printed them out with the multiple page option on my printer so that they were smaller. I wanted these children to create FROM the cards, not ON the cards. Since the blocks have a tendency to drift off, I put the quantities needed on the front of the bag for easy inventory and re-stocking. There are a lot of free tanagram cards out there. Skills: Geometry, visual/spatial, logic/reasoning, symmetry, counting, creative expression WRITE THE FACTS Includes: 1-12 bead circles, laminated addition/subtraction fact writing card, dry erase marker Instructions: Choose a bead circle, move some of the beads to each side, write the fact. Advanced: write all the facts in the family. Notes: The child can do as many or as few facts as they wish with a single circle before moving on to another. The circles are made with pipe cleaners cut in half and hot glued into the wooden bead after putting on the pony beads. I tried to make them colorful. The number is written on with sharpie. Skills: Fact families, addition/subtraction, observation, logic/reasoning In there right now, I also have a number writing cheat card, since we haven't been working on writing for very long, and they want to write RIGHT. I also have a couple of seasonal I Spy books in there. Busy Bags are not ALL they do during naptime. They also read books, and magazines, do educational apps on the iPad, and color, among other activities. But most importantly, they are QUIET so the little ones can get their rest. Tags: gifted, advanced, homeschool, homeschooling, daycare, child care, preschool, pre-k, elementary, early, child, children, math, science, language, literacy, Follow Connie -'s board Sensory on Pinterest.
Yaaay, I'm back! Sure enough, I was able to sign in with a different email address (the hubby's, who I made an author of this blog), an...
Ideas for making life sweet!
Last fall, I hosted a pretty massive busy bag exchange with 20 of my girlfriends. We did a toddler aged and preschool aged exchange (and most of us participated in both.) Those posts have a ton of ideas and remain our most popular posts on the blog. The busy bags were a hit with our ... Read more
My pre-k students, ages 4 1/2 - 5 1/2 years old, do not nap, but the younger ones do. The pre-k's formerly went into the preschool room, but they have SOOOooooo lost privilege due to inappropriate conduct. So now, they are stuck doing quiet activities within my direct sight. I do not want this time to be wasted, and I need them engaged so that boredom doesn't nudge them towards more inappropriate behavior. These children are gifted and/or advanced for their age, so the classic preschool busy bags just won't cut it. I want busy bags that: Hold a (fairly) unique activity Work a specific skill set at multiple levels Have more than one mode of play or Be dynamic, each play being different Are appealing visually and through play Can be contained within about a 1 square foot area Fit easily within a quart sized Ziploc Do not require adult assistance beyond initial instruction They have access to file folder games that use laminated manipulatives. I wanted the buys bags to be different. So far, they LOVE them! They would play with them other parts of the day, but are only allowed to during nap time. Each one works fine motor skills, so I did not list that under SKILLS. Most also work logic/reasoning, but...I'm kinda partial to that one. Here's the ones we have so far and those pending. Each one is explained, in order, below. Alligator Chomp Build and Add Butterfly Symmetry Card Facts Color Links Fish and Chips Frozen Flakes Geo Board Pumpkin Faces (seasonal) Puzzle Race to Odd & Even Ribbon Weaving Silly Sentences Punctuation Sounds & Count Stick Figures Write the Facts Tanagrams In the works, I'll add to post when completed: Animal Habitats I Know Instruments Food Group Gulp Fraction Fun Musical Notation Types of Terrain ALLIGATOR CHOMP Includes: Craft foam alligator, numbers 2-10 playing cards Instructions: Children children place 2 cards down and place the alligator greater than or less than to CHOMP the bigger number. Used cards are placed in a discard pile and new ones drawn. Advanced: use 2 cards added or subtracted for each side. Notes: This may seem rather easy, but they like it, and it teaches a new skill. I have more advanced versions in mind for the future. Skills: Visual quantity identification, greater than/lesser than, 1-1 correspondence counting, logic/reasoning BUILD and ADD Includes: 11 each of 2 colors of unit blocks, laminated activity cards, dry erase marker Instructions: Follow instructions for building, add, write the sum in the box Advanced: write the number that comes before and the number that comes after on either side of the box. Notes: This was a free download that I can't find. If I do I'll add the link, but you can definitely see how it's done. This is a little easy for these children, but it's good practice for writing their numbers. Skills: 1-1 correspondence counting, logic/reasoning, word problems, writing, math vocabulary BUTTERFLY SYMMETRY Includes: 1 cream felt play mat, pattern cards, felt pattern pieces Instructions: Choose a card, place it in the middle of the felt mat, use the pattern pieces to mirror the design on the card. Notes: There is a free download for this activity, but I decided to make my own so I could change out the pieces or increase the complexity to keep it interesting. Skills: Symmetry, logic/reasoning, visual/spatial, observation, geometry CARD FACTS Includes: 2 sets of cards 1-10, laminated addition/subtraction card, dry erase marker Instructions: Choose 2 cards, if doing subtraction place the higher number card on the left, place them above the add/subtract card, write the equation Advanced: use 2 cards added together to create each number. Skills: Number identification, writing, 1-1 correspondance counting, creating and solving equations COLOR LINKS Includes: 1 set of color cards, 1 set of color links Instructions: Choose a card, collect and button that link, choose another card, and add that link to the other one. Advanced: put the cards in alphabetical order prior to putting the links together. Notes: It may seem rather easy, but keeping the links going in the correct direction is more difficult than you'd think. Skills: Color words, color identification, logic/reasoning FISH & CHIPS Includes: 6 each of 3 colors of poker chips, pattern cards Instructions: Choose a card, create that pattern, extend that pattern until you run out of chips Notes: These go from the simple AB pattern to AABBCC. These kids are whizzes at this, but it's good reinforcement. Skills: Patterning, logic/reasoning FROZEN FLAKES Includes: 2 game boards, 1 die, 6 each of two colors of chips Instructions: 1-2 player, roll the die and cover the number rolled, if the number is already covered, lose that turn. Advanced: use 2 die and you have create a double, add, or subtract. Notes: Yeah, not that challenging, but they love it, so it keeps them BUSY. For the younger ones we place the die in a small plastic container with a lid to keep it contained. Free download from Activity Mom. Skills: 1-1 correspondence counting, number vs. quantity, number identification, taking turns GEO BOARD Includes: 1 geo board, 2-3 of each size of rubber band Instructions: Have fun Notes: I purposefully placed just a couple of each size/color rubber bands into here. When they have access to a LOT of rubber bands, they just go nuts with them and start tossing them about. Fewer resources make them more precious, and the children have to work harder to create interesting designs. I was going to include cards for them to match, but right now they enjoy just creating their own designs. Cards may come later. There are a ton of them out there. Skills: geometry, grid manipulation, logic/reasoning, creative expression, architecture PUMPKIN FACES (seasonal) Includes: Pumpkin face cards, pumpkin face mat, pumpkin face pieces Instructions: Pull a card and make a matching face. These range from easy to hard. Notes: Harder than it may look, as the pieces often need to be flipped and rotated Skills: Logic/reasoning, geometry, visual/spatial, observation PUZZLE Includes: 1 puzzle Instructions: Put it together Notes: Changed out regularly, harder puzzles have a picture included, but all their harder puzzles are now missing pieces, thus the busy bags... Skills: logic/reasoning, visual/spatial RACE TO ODD & EVEN Includes: 1 play mat, odd and even number cards Instructions: Choose a card, place it on the appropriate odd or even side. First side to be completed WINS! Advanced: Put the numbers in numerical order when done. Notes: They truly treat this as a race with one side winning. I can change the cards out frequently to keep it interesting and advancing. It is self-correcting. To hinge the two sides, I laminate them separately and use heavy duty packing tape on the back side of the seam. Skills: Odd/even, logic/reasoning, number recognition. RIBBON WEAVING Includes: 1 cream felt play mat, pattern cards, felt pattern pieces Instructions: Choose a card, place it in the middle of the felt mat, use the pattern pieces to mirror the design on the card. Advanced: Create rainbow order. Notes: A seemingly simple activity, but it works a lot of higher-thinking skills Skills: creative expression, logic/reasoning, patterning, sensory stimulation SILLY SENTENCES PUNCTUATION Includes: 1 cream felt play mat, pattern cards, felt pattern pieces Instructions: Choose a card, place it in the middle of the felt mat, use the pattern pieces to mirror the design on the card. Advanced: Some sentences are questionable between an exclamation point and period, leaving it open to their reasoning. Notes: I think they like this better because they helped create the silly sentences. Skills: Reading, grammar, punctuation, logic/reasoning SOUNDS & COUNT Includes: 1 set of cards, red/green/blue clothespins Instructions: Choose a card, place a green clothespin on the beginning sound, a red clothespin on the ending sound (if applicable), and a blue clothespin on the number of items in the picture Advanced: when I make these cards, I increase the difficulty by putting very similar sounds on the same card, making them work a little harder for it. Notes: We have sets of these cards for all our themes. The newer themes include beginning sound, ending sound and number. These are changed out monthly at minimum. It takes a good amount of clothes pins. This amount only does half of the cards, then they have to take them all off to do the other half. I just put a dot on these ones with sharpies, but they aren't hard to paint. Skills: Phonics/letter, 1-1 correspondence counting, number/quantity, logic/reasoning, observation, visual/spatial STICK FIGURES Includes: 2 each of 4 colors of craft sticks, design cards Instructions: Choose a card, create the design, or create your own design Notes: The cards range in difficulty from fairly easy to very difficult. Even I find this one challenging if trying to get all the over/unders correct. Skills: Logic/reasoning, observation, visual/spatial, trial/error, patterns, geometry TANAGRAMS Includes: Set of uppercase tanagram cards, tanagram blocks to create all the cards Instructions: Choose a card, re-create with tanagram blocks, or create your own design Advanced: make your own cards without the shape indicators, or just black/white. Notes: The tanagram cards are a free download. I printed them out with the multiple page option on my printer so that they were smaller. I wanted these children to create FROM the cards, not ON the cards. Since the blocks have a tendency to drift off, I put the quantities needed on the front of the bag for easy inventory and re-stocking. There are a lot of free tanagram cards out there. Skills: Geometry, visual/spatial, logic/reasoning, symmetry, counting, creative expression WRITE THE FACTS Includes: 1-12 bead circles, laminated addition/subtraction fact writing card, dry erase marker Instructions: Choose a bead circle, move some of the beads to each side, write the fact. Advanced: write all the facts in the family. Notes: The child can do as many or as few facts as they wish with a single circle before moving on to another. The circles are made with pipe cleaners cut in half and hot glued into the wooden bead after putting on the pony beads. I tried to make them colorful. The number is written on with sharpie. Skills: Fact families, addition/subtraction, observation, logic/reasoning In there right now, I also have a number writing cheat card, since we haven't been working on writing for very long, and they want to write RIGHT. I also have a couple of seasonal I Spy books in there. Busy Bags are not ALL they do during naptime. They also read books, and magazines, do educational apps on the iPad, and color, among other activities. But most importantly, they are QUIET so the little ones can get their rest. Tags: gifted, advanced, homeschool, homeschooling, daycare, child care, preschool, pre-k, elementary, early, child, children, math, science, language, literacy, Follow Connie -'s board Sensory on Pinterest.
These free printable busy bags are super simple to make--just print and play! Perfect for travel or as quiet time activities.
Keep kids occupied, quiet and learning with fun busy bags. Kids learn while they play! These busy bags are perfect for preschool and toddlers.
I'm obsessed with busy bags. TONS of ideas for busy bags with some free printables to go along with them! Also some ideas for hosting a busy bags swap party
Find over 100 fun and engaging busy bags for toddlers, preschoolers, kindergarten and elementary kids, too — perfect for on the go!
When we lived in Germany, I used to make busy bags for Blue Rock. He was younger then but they were great on car rides and vacations. It's been a while since I've made one. A few weeks ago, one of our homeschool co-ops had a busy bag exchange for different age groups. I decided to participate. Sadly, we missed the play-date since it was on the day of my grandmother's funeral. However, we were still able to share our bags and exchanged them with others. I made 6 bags and got 6 bags. Here are the bags we got! I let Blue Rock do some of the activities but am saving others for a rainy day. I hope to do another busy bag exchange sometime. I'm feeling inspired to make more busy bags! Pom Poms Number Matching Game - Use tongs to put the correct number of pom poms on each number card. Counting Bugs in Jars - place the number of bugs to the matching number in the jar. This was one of his favorites. Probably because it involved bugs! Clothes Pin Number Matching Game - place the number on the clothes pin to the right number of dots Colored Popsicle Shape Game - create the shape with the popsicle sticks. He loved this one! Math Addition Busy Bag - add the beads to learn addition. This was the one I made. Clink the title to see how. Link and Pattern Game - make a pattern with the links that matches the patterns on the cards. All my busy bags in their bags! Busy bags are fun and inexpensive and make a great learning tool!
If you’ve been following this blog for a little while now, you might remember the Toddler Busy Bag Swap that I hosted at my house last fall. A few weeks after I hosted my swap, my friend, Emily, h…
Hands-on, I-Spy Busy Bag - Includes both major and dwarf planets as well as the Space Shuttle and International Space Station.
This will hopefully be the first in a string of posts where we are “getting things done” with KidCentral at Central Christian Church. You see, we have, like many of you, had SO many wo…
29 FREE Pentomino Puzzles and Challenges. Includes 3 piece pentomino puzzles for young kids, 15 animal pentomino cards, and more!
Looking for a way to keep littles busy on the go? We've got easy busy bags for babies and no-prep toddler busy bags at TheSaltyMamas.com!
10 ideas for busy bags to help work on matching activities for your toddler - colour matching, shape matching, letter matching and more
As churches begin reopening after COVID-19, many will keep families together in one service for a while before opening their children’s ministry. That means babies through adults will be worshiping together in one setting, and while that excites us as children’s and family ministers, parents and senior pastors may not be so thrilled. In an […]
This is the best resource you will ever find for easy to assemble busy bags, that you can do mostly from home. Use all the free printables and enjoy!
In just a few weeks time, I am due to give birth to our second child! We’ve been using busy bags for our toddler for quite some time but I’ve been working on some new ones to pack in a bag ready to bring to the hospital when she comes to visit her baby brother. […]
My pre-k students, ages 4 1/2 - 5 1/2 years old, do not nap, but the younger ones do. The pre-k's formerly went into the preschool room, ...
Explore addition with a hands-on activity in this practicing addition busy bag that takes a few minutes to create for young kids.
An easy to make busy bag for kids who love cars. It uses magnetic roads and accessories. Pair it with your child's favorite cars!
Have you noticed that I write a TON about quiet time activities in this space, but not a lot about busy bags? There is a reason for that! Quiet time in our home is about resting and allowing little ones some mindful time. Quiet time is FAR more than simply keeping little ones busy. I
Explore addition with a hands-on activity in this practicing addition busy bag that takes a few minutes to create for young kids.
I’m sharing some experiences and ideas from the recent busy bag exchange I posted. You can read part 1 here and part 2 here. You can see the rest of the ideas I gathered for the swap on this google doc. Today I’m sharing the preschool aged busy bags from the exchange. 1. Numbers Flip ... Read more
Toddler busy book with funny activities will help your kids learn emotions! Printable Busy Bag for your kids includes matching games and emotions flash cards. Create your learning binder! Great for preschool activities. Perfect for kids 1,5-5 year old. My younger son is 1,5 years old and he likes these activities! And my older son is 5 years old and he likes them also :) Print these funny activities and create a busy bag for you kids. These matching games are great way to learn feelings and emotions! You can laminate the pages, so that they can be used for a long time. —————— You will get: ♥ 9 Activity Pages with Emotions Face Parts Games ♥ 9 Emotions Flash cards (size 2.5 in x 3.5 in) ♥ Emotions Matching Game —————— Available format sizes: ♥ US Letter format (8.5" x 11") ♥ A4 format (8.3" × 11.7") —————— Available languages: ♥ English ♥ German ♥ Italian —————— TERMS OF USE ♥ For Personal Use Only ♥ PLEASE NOTE: This printable is intended for personal use only. Not for resale. Illustrations is NOT available for Resale, Reproduction, or Redistribution or use as freebies or giveaways. Thanks for your understanding! —————— DOWNLOAD INSTRUCTIONS Visit the purchases page on Etsy to download your paid items or click here https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/115013196707-Purchasing-an-Item —————— Made with love :)
Toddler Busy Bags that you can put together for your little one for less than $1 per bag. Creative ideas!
This week, dad gets a bit of loving. Indulge him with sport, food and other male cliches.
I like to hand sew things, and ever since the kids were old enough to notice me sewing, they have wanted to have at it. When they were rea...
Lots of ideas on what to include in a child's goody bag at a wedding to keep them entertained. From play doh to stickers and free printable booklets.
I love Spring and Summer time and being able to get out to enjoy nature a little bit more. One thing that I also enjoy is sharing free resources to help families extend their learning. Today is all about the FROG! I have gathered up over 70 free resources to use when learning about the...Read More »
Get Your Kids Engaged with Our Letter A Busy Bag - Featuring Apple Sorting Cards! Perfect for Letter of the Week Activities.
Hi!! Today I have an project to share with you that is perfect for those with younger kids. I made this fun little quiet book with the Cricut Imagine, the My Quiet Book cartridge, and the Imagine Hopscotch Cartridge. This book measures about 8 x 8 inches. Here is the front cover..... Isn't it awesome that I used only white cardstock on this whole thing and the Imagine printed and cut everything out?? I really love using the Imagine when I am trying to pull together projects that need more than one piece of paper to coordinate.....it just makes it so much easier. I added some pen stitching to the whole book to give it more of a homemade feel. Here is the first two pages..... The duck and the fish (along with other pieces that are in the pockets between the pages) can be taken off and moved around the page....they have a temporary adhesive behind them. The bird is in the nest with some numbered eggs to help teach counting....they can all be removed and then put back into the nest. Here are the next pages..... The hands on this clock move and the laces on the shoes can be untied and retied. I used three metal rings to bind this book together and tied some various ribbon on the outside of the book on the rings for a fun look (great way to use up that ribbon stash). Here are the next pages..... The same goes with these pages.....elements can be taken off and moved around the pages with a temporary adhesive. I added extra elements to come clear acrylic pieces (think Cricut packaging) and tied them with ribbon to slide in the pockets I have between each of the pages so there is always more fun to be had. Just like on this next set of pages where there are more face pieces in each of the pockets...... If you look closely at the picture above, you can see the clear acrylic piece along with the extra elements for these faces (there are a few more pieces that are not shown in this picture). Here is a peek at the last set of pages in this fun little book..... The flowers and petals come off and can be moved around the page to the other stems. The shapes are a matching type of game where they cna all be taken off and matched again to the correct space with the 'naked' shape below it. I have also written in each of the shape names on the colored ones. Well, I hope that you have enjoyed this fun little tour of the My Quite Book that took me quite a while to put together. It was published in the February 2012 issue of the Cricut Circle Magazine. Now it is time to announce the winner of the stamp sets that I was giving away on MY POST during World Card Making Day. The winner via random.org is: omyn October 8, 2012 4:36 AM I have always had colouring books and things like that.. but my mother always made sure there were a steady supply of paper, pens and scissors too.. so i could create my own things. She still has the ornaments I made for my first Christmas.. of course.. they are all cut out of BLACK construction paper.. lol :) Congratulations!! Please EMAIL ME your shipping information and I will get these stamps packaged up and off in the mail for you. You have 5 days to claim your prize. Thank you so much to everyone for sharing your stories with me. I really enjoyed reading them....it makes my heart happy to hear about each of your experiences and I am happy to hear about how many of you love the way that your crafting brings smiles to other's faces. It is a wonderful reason to create!! Thanks so much to those who have voted for me in the Last Card Standing competition with Taylored Expressions. I am really so happy to see so many votes for my project, unfortunately, the contest ends tonight and I have fallen WAY behind the leader and unless by some miracle there are tons of votes in the next couple of hours, I will not be the winner.....I am not very good at the popularity contest sort of thing and so I guess that is why I don't usually win these sort of competitions. I am really very happy to have made it as far as I have, though. There are so many talented card makers that entered, I am just super happy to have made it as far as I did. Hugs, Amy
1. Play finger twister. Via Kids Activities Blog Easily create your own board by drawing 16 small circles on heavyweight paper and coloring each set of four circles a different color. You could als...
These images are ready for you to download and then send to a photo store (like Costco or Walgreen’s) they can print them for you and then you place them in a 4 x 6 photo album, the photo Alb…
