Knowing I had a new baby on the way and a preschooler who LOVES me to play right alongside and with him all the time, I needed to set up something that would allow him to work independently and confidently incase I needed time to feed, change or tend to baby's needs. Enter... BUSY BAGS!
I've used a set of 6 zippy wallets (linked HERE) that gives him a selection of busy bags to choose from if I need to provide Mr 3 with a focused activity that is totally matched to his independent capability - meaning he won't need any help to do them.
IMPORTANT NOTE: I've 'trained' him on how to do these busy bags and explained what and when they are for. It's really important to model how to do each busy bag, before you expect your little one to do them on their own.
What I included in Set 1:
Threading beads onto numbered pipe cleaners
Matching initial letters to family photos
Sorting numbers 1-3
Sorting buttons big, medium & small
Sequencing cotton reel patterns (ABAB)
Matching peg colours
Threading beads onto numbered pipe cleaners
I added stick labels wrapped around the top of pipe cleaners, and then numbered them 1-3 with digits or traditional dice arrangements. Inside an envelope I've popped some wide-holed beads to thread onto the pipe cleaners. The aim is to thread the right number of beads onto each pipe cleaner.
Matching initial letters to family photos
I printed off three photos - one of Mr 3, one of myself and one of his Daddy. I've then added into the bag some magnetic letters to sort and place onto the right photo, depending on whos letter it is. Note: because this is to do with names, I've used capital letters as this is then gramatically correct. If I was sorting letters or sounds based on pictures eg. s for socks, sandwich, sun/ f for fox, fish, flower, then I would use the lower case version of the magnetic letters.
Sorting numbers 1-3
I drew round a small bowl on a piece of card and numbered each circle 1-3. I then popped some magnetic numbers into the zippy wallet to sort into the right space.
Sorting buttons big, medium & small
I collected an asortment of different buttons that were of the sizes 'big', 'medium' and 'small' and added them into a lidded pot. I then split a piece of card into 3 columns and labelled these to sort the buttons into.
Sequencing cotton reel patterns (ABAB)
I cut some strips of card and using a felt tip pen, drew some large, coloured dots in a repeating pattern eg. red, green, red, green (ABAB). I then popped the corresponding coloured cotton reels into the zippy wallet.
Matching peg colours
I printed off my colour matching pegging cards from my website (linked HERE) and cut them into strips. I then coloured in some old, wooden pegs to match the colours of the blocks on the strip. The aim is to match the coloured pegs to the right block. This might be better with enough pegs for each strip, instead of re-using the pegs... we'll see!
I hope you have found this useful! I'll continue to upload each set of Busy Bags, so do check back to see once I've rotated them.
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