Busy Bags

    Recently, I found a fabulous busy bag exchange group on Facebook!  Each month there are different  groups in which  to participate. There are always the basic age category groups - infant, toddler, preschool, early elementary, older elementary - as well as specialized groups each month.  This past month some of the specialized groups were duplos/legos and Dr. Suess books.  What's fabulous about this group is for every bag you send out you receive one in return! This month I went no-holds -bar and participated in a toddler, 2 preschool, Duplo, and Dr. Seuss groups!


Dr. Seuss - Matching game for Green Eggs and Ham.  I found the printable for the game on Joyfully Weary (she also has lots of other great ideas for a Dr. Seuss unit).  After I printed out the hat pictures, I glued them on to some green eggs!  Add a spatula to flip over your eggs as you play the memory game!

Duplos Group  Pattern Books:   I found these printables here.  After I printed off a selection of each type of puzzle, I simply laminated, punched a hole, and held them together with a metal ring. These are great for fine motor skill, visual perceptual skills, problem solving.  You can easily increase the challenge of these cards by having your child add the next three blocks, in the pattern, after the completed the pattern on the card. 

Preschool Group 1 - Word/Letter Match:  Like so many of my ideas this morphed out of an idea I saw here on Pinterest. Since I am on a quest to use the materials I have after spending 10+ years in the elementary classroom I used what I had on hand: some sentence strips ( these can be found in the teacher section of Dollar Tree), stickers, and clothes pins.  Simply create a clothespin letter for each letter of each word.  To make this slightly easier for each word in the set you could use a different color marker to writer the word on the strip and the clip letters for that word.

Preschool Group 2 - Name Recognition Game: These are two simple activities to be used with your preschooler to recognize their name.  The first is their name written on a sentence strip ( love sentence strips).  I attached a magnet to the back - this will serve as their guide.  Then I wrote their name again, cut it apart after each letter, added a magnet to each letter piece.  Now the child can manipulate their letters to make their name.  We have this activity on our fridge and the Owl does it each morning when he comes downstairs for the day.  The second activity - I created a grid using foam letters.  The child then sorts the letters in their name on the grid.

 Toddler Group - Pipe Cleaner Drop: When I learned that my neighbor was cleaning out her upright freezer I knew I needed these old spice containers! Of course, my DH grumbled as I schlepped home more free stuff to add to my pile, but I just smiled, because I had the perfect project for them! I filled them up with pipe cleaners and colored straws.  The lids have two different sides- one has a large hole and the other has four small holes.  These are perfect for fine motor skills.  To put my own spin on it I made up some pattern cards, using the materials I had put in each container.  The child can empty their pipe cleaners/straws out, grab a pattern card, and then put just those items back into the container.