Busy Bags

For all you mommas on Pinterest, you may be familiar with the concept of the Busy Bag!  If not, a Busy Bag is designed to entertain your little one with a simple activity and can generally fit into a gallon size Ziploc baggie.  It could be anything from lacing pool noodles and matching shapes to making puzzles and identifying numbers and colors.  

I recently attended a Busy Bag swap and it was great!  We’ve already gone through a couple bags and Paxton absolutely loves his new learning activities.  I was amazed at how much attention he gave to each one, and the best thing is he keeps going back to them!  I want to host my own swap so we can build his collection of Busy Bags.  Plus, I think that a lot of my friends would love to have these for their kiddos as well!

So, here's how it works:  each participant will make 20-30 (hopefully we get that many takers!) of the same busy bag activity.  This should streamline the process of you creating and absolutely save on materials.

I have pre-chosen around 30 different activities to make sure there is variety.  I tried to pick bags that teach a specific concept or can be used creatively AND that will hopefully be affordable ($3 or less per bag for a total of $60-$90 for 20-30 bags--quite a steal when you end up with 20-30 different activities in the end).

Each activity selected will meet the following criteria:

• Self-contained.  This way, you can just grab a bag and GO! (without having to add a number of supplies to the bag in order to make it useful).

• Transportable.  Yes, they will definitely be used at home, but you will also be able to grab a few bags to take to a restaurant, a waiting room, plane trips, car rides, etc.

• Convenient.  None of the bags will have supplies that require major set-up or clean-up:  no paint, watercolors, liquids, sand, dirt, etc.

• Inexpensive.  I don’t want anyone spending too much money on this project!

• Re-usable.  I chose activities that will last a while.  Therefore, I avoided activities where you would have to buy new supplies to re-stock the bag.  This is why lamination is recommended for some of the activities.

**PLEASE KNOW THAT ALL BAGS WILL REQUIRE TIME, BUT NOT NECESSARILY CREATIVE GENIUS!**

Want to join the swap?

1.  Email me (deidramaner@yahoo.com) by Saturday, March 24th and let me know you would like to sign up.  Please let me know if you are comfortable with a little bit of sewing, if you don't mind very light construction (chopping small wooden dowels and sanding them), or if you really just want a simple, straightforward bag.

2.  Once I have all the spots filled, I will assign everyone a bag, doing my best to match you with a bag fitting your skills and wishes!  I will include a link to directions/templates/examples of a completed activity to help you along.

3.  Everyone will have a little over a month to complete their bags. We will get together at the beginning of May to swap.

4.  Out of towners are more than welcome to participate, you will just have to cover the cost of shipping and handling via Priority Mail.