10 Educational Busy Bags Using Items From The Target Dollar Spot

A few weeks ago, I walked into our local Target and noticed that the Dollar Spot was overflowing with back to school items.

I couldn't believe it at first. We had just gotten out of school for the Summer one week earlier! But that didn't stop me from filling up my cart. I ended up returning home with a large bag full of learning materials.

These items had a purpose!

Lily will be starting Kindergarten in the Fall right after she turns 5 and will be one of the youngest kids in her class. She is very social and very independent, so I have no concerns regarding her social and emotional readiness. I do, however, want to keep up with the learning and memorization so she's every bit as prepared as her older classmates. She will be starting Kindergarten with children who are already a full year older than her, so I want to give her a bit of an edge.

Liam has been using a lot of picture books and flashcards lately in Speech Therapy. I wanted to introduce some new learning materials before he makes the transition into preschool based therapy in the Fall.  In addition to his early intervention therapies, I spend many hours working with him on my own, so I need to have educational materials on hand.

Sure enough, we started to use these items every day, but our current storage method wasn't working. At first, I kept everything in a small storage container but it wasn't always easy to find what I was looking for.  Our very popular Busy Bags Binder gets used every day, so I was inspired to create a Busy Bags Binder full of educational busy bags!

This method ended up working out SO well!

Items Needed:

• A 2-to-3 inch Binder (bigger is better)
• Binder Pencil Pouches 
• Small crate to store extra busy bags

Pick up some learning materials, group them into learning skills (early reading, counting, letter recognition, time, money) and place each group of items into a pencil pouch.  Snap them into the binder, create a fun cover and store on a bookshelf within easy reach!

Here are 10 Educational Busy Bags using items from the Target Dollar Spot:

{ONE}

Early Reading

Activities Included:

• Phonics Flash Cards
• Rhyming Cards
• Rhyming Puzzle Wheels
• Sight Words Flash Cards

We actually use the Sight Words Flash Cards with Liam, too! Did you know that kids who have Down syndrome often have amazing memorization skills early on? I had no idea prior to having Liam. There are some awesome 3 year olds I know in the Down syndrome community who are already reading! We just recently started, but I'll let you know how it goes!

{TWO}

Time

Activities Included:

• Telling Time Puzzle Cards
• Wipe Clean Time Practice Cards
• Telling Time Flash Cards

I'm introducing the hours to Lily already. It's never too early to learn!

{THREE}

Sequencing

Activities Included:

• Alphabet Sequencing Puzzle
• Number Sequencing Puzzle
• Sequencing Puzzle Cards 

This is a fun way to learn patterns and letter and number sequences!

{FOUR}

Counting and Numbers

Activities Included:

• Numbers Flash Cards
• Number Matching
• Counting 1-20 Flash Cards
• Number Wheel

This Busy Bag is more for Liam, but I do quiz Lily on the numbers once a week just to keep her mind sharp!

{FIVE}

Shapes and Colors

Activities Included:

• Color Wheel
• Shapes and Colors Flash Cards
• Color Clips

 I love the shapes and colors flash cards because they go beyond the basic colors and shapes. Lily can now easily identify crescents, semi-circles, octagons, hexagons and pentagons and is learning shades such as Aqua.

{SIX}

Alphabet

Activities Included:

• Alphabet Flash Cards
• Wipe Clean Letters
• ABC's and Words Flash Cards
• Lowercase Letter Learning
• Uppercase Letter Learning

This is one of my favorite Busy Bags! I use it frequently for both kids. I use the flash cards to teach Liam his ABC's. The ABC's and Words flash cards are great for quizzing Lily on skills she already knows while teaching her to recognize words. She often uses the Wipe Clean cards on her own to practice her handwriting.

{SEVEN} 

Money

Activities Included:

• Money Puzzle Cards
• Felt Money Set
• Wipe Clean Money Practice Cards

I'm already teaching Lily some basic money skills.  The felt money set ($3) is a fun tool for teaching her the basics! It comes with a wallet, bills and coins and everything fits into a handy zipper case. Lily loves to use it for pretend play!

{EIGHT}

Letters

Activities Included:

• Wipe Clean Play and Learn Practice Cards
• Alphabet Puzzle Cards

This Busy Bag is just an extension of the Alphabet Busy Bag, but is suited more for Lily.

{NINE}

Lacing

Activities Included:

• Lacing Shapes-Robots
• Lacing Shapes-Fairies
• Chunky Lacing Shapes

This Busy Bag is more for honing those fine motor skills. Liam is working hard on lacing right now in Occupational Therapy and it's a good quiet activity for Lily!

{TEN}

 Magnetic Alphabet, Numbers & Shapes

Activities Included:

• Magnetic Numbers and Letters
• Magnetic Numbers and Shapes in Zipper Pouch
• Drawstring Favor Bag to hold the magnets
• Chalk Paint Cookie Sheet

I made the chalk trays for our road trip to the beach last year and our kids ended up using them all the time! The kids love to draw on them with chalk (roads and cars for Liam) and stick magnets to them! I included the how-to in THIS simple road trip ideas post, but it's easy: Just $1 cookie sheets with a coat of chalk spray paint on them!

With just a small amount of money and a few minutes of time, you can create a binder full of educational busy bags that will take you from the toddler years into the school years!

In addition to the busy bags in the binder, I picked up a few $1 puzzles and Wipe Clean Magnetic Lap Boards to slide into the pockets in the binder for more fun!

I like to create more busy bags as I find items while shopping, so I keep a few extra binder pencil pouches on hand and I store all the extra busy bags in a small crate. I can swap out busy bags as the kids grow and their needs change!

The Learning Busy Bags Binder is such a simple idea for kids of all ages that results in endless hours of learning and play!

 

Do you have busy bags for your kids?

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7 Simple Fine Motor Busy Bags

I always tell everyone that having a child with Down syndrome enhanced our lives.

It's absolutely true!  In addition to the many blessings Liam bestowed upon our family, he also expanded my thinking. I now find myself thinking in terms of fine motor skills, gross motor skills, expressive language, and receptive language.  I research early childhood development topics and therapy ideas.  So much more knowledge has come from his diagnosis!

I love to do activities with my kids and encourage learning in our home, but I've definitely been doing more since Liam was born. Whenever I decide to do an activity, I try to think of all the ways it will benefit him. Surprisingly, almost anything can become a therapy tool!

As many of you know, Liam receives Early Intervention services in our home.  Every week, he gets an hour of occupational therapy, an hour of speech therapy, and an hour of physical therapy.  He's truly doing fantastic, and is right on track with milestones and development!

Although I'll save it for another post, Liam just had his yearly Early Intervention evaluation and almost didn't qualify for OT anymore.  The only thing that gave him a qualifying score was the fact that he didn't complete three tasks that he knows how to do during testing.  Liam's amazing OT, whom we adore, said he reached all his goals, so now we're just going to refine his skills by making his tasks more difficult.

It was time to get creative!

After discussing ways to make Liam's therapy activities more difficult, I got to work creating fine motor Busy Bags using common, inexpensive household items.  These Busy Bags are perfect for Liam's developing skills, but also perfect for keeping Lily occupied!

Almost every Busy Bag featured has multiple activities for different skill levels. They work so well for our family.  Lily can keep busy doing the more advanced activities, while Liam develops his skills! Even Dylan and Lexie, my BIG kids, had fun with a few of these!

{ONE}

Crazy Loop Straw Threading Busy Bag

• Crazy Loop Straws
• Foam Beads 

Have your child thread the foam beads onto the crazy loop straw.  Bonus activities: Sort the beads into colors, sort the beads into shapes, and/or make a tower with them.

{TWO}

Pool Noodle Stringing and Stacking Busy Bag

• Pool noodle (Slice into 1 inch-2 inch pieces. Trust me, it's easy!)
• Piece of rope (Tie a large knot in one end.)

Have your child string the pool noodle pieces onto the rope or stack the pool noodles as high as he/she possibly can! This probably goes without saying, but always supervise your child while they're using the rope.

{THREE}

Straw Drop Busy Bag

• Small container with a lid (Punch a hole in the lid with a large screwdriver.)
• Plastic Straws cut into 2 inch segments

Have your child put the straws into the cup through the hole in the lid.  For older children, make it more challenging by timing them!

{FOUR}

Sponge Blocks Busy Bag

• Sponges cut into squares, rectangles, and triangles

Have fun building with sponge blocks! My kids LOVE this one!  Have your child create a tower with the sponge blocks.  Afterward, they can sort the blocks by color, then by shape.

{FIVE}

Playdoh Busy Bag

 

• Small container of Playdoh
• Straws cut into 3 inch segments

Kneading Playdoh is great for strengthening the muscles in the hands!  After a few minutes of kneading, place the straws in the Playdoh.  Advanced activities: Create animals with the straws, create patterns using the straws, or write letters in the Playdoh by poking it with a straw.  *We used dry pasta in the past for this, but I was afraid it would get crushed while being stored.

{SIX} 

Wiffle Ball/Golf Ball Threading Busy Bag

• Wiffle Balls or plastic golf balls
• Pipe Cleaners

Have your child thread the pipe cleaners through the wiffle ball/golf ball.  Advanced Activity: Make shapes by connecting the balls together using the pipe cleaners.

{SEVEN}

Paperclip Numbers Busy Bag

• Flashcards (punch a hole through the bottom corner of each card)
• Paperclips

There are so many activities to do with this busy bag for all skill levels! 

1. Pick a flashcard and place that number of paperclips on top of the card.
2. Count out the number shown on a flashcard using the paperclips and clip them to the card.
3. Sort the paperclips by color.
4. Make a bracelet by linking the paperclips together!

All of the busy bags can be easily stored in plastic storage bags and placed in a storage crate.  We keep all of our Busy Bag Binders and crates on a shelf in the hallway, within easy reach. Saying "I'm bored!" is not allowed!

Lily and Liam are having so much fun with the fine motor busy bags that they don't even realize they're developing skills!

What are your favorite fine motor activities?

For more busy bags check out:

• Busy Bags Binder using items from the Target Dollar Spot
• Arts and Crafts Busy Binder
  

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How To Create an Arts and Crafts Busy Binder

It's official! Busy bags are a HIT with my kids!

Liam, Lily, and Lexie play with our Busy Bags Binder every day. We even take it in the car with us! Lexie requested a Busy Bags Binder geared toward an older child, and I knew just what to do!

Lexie loves to draw and create, and we have a plethora of art supplies.  An Arts and Crafts Busy Binder was PERFECT for her (and Lily, too)!




SUPPLIES:

• A 2 inch (or bigger) binder
• 6-8 Binder pouches (Only 47 cents each at Walmart!)
• Various art supplies to create 6-8 Busy Bags
• Cover sheet for the binder

I ended up making 6 busy bags. Any more and the binder wouldn't close!  If you want to make more, just buy a bigger binder or keep the extra bags in a storage container and swap them weekly.

Here's what I came up with:

Drawing Busy Bag

• Mini Markers
• Small Notepad
• Chalk
• Chalboard Clipboard (Currently $1 at Target Dollar Spot)

Foam Crafts Busy Bag

• Foam sheets
• Foam Stickers (both found at dollar store)

Clay Busy Bag

• Clay Kit (It was a gift, but I know Walmart sells them for under $10)

Coloring Busy Bag

• Play Packs (Target Dollar Spot) for coloring
• Small box of crayons 

Bracelet-Making Busy Bag

• Beads
• String
• Scissors
• Embroidery floss

Stencils and Stickers Busy Bag

• Small notepad
• Stencils
• Mini colored pencils
• Pencil sharpener
• Stickers

After I assembled the busy bags, I stored them in the binder. It's such a simple project!



This one is just as loved as the first!




The Arts and Crafts Busy Binder is so simple to make and everything in it can be easily and inexpensively replaced! Even better?  The girls love it!  Busy Bags Round Two was a complete success! 





What would you put in an arts and crafts busy binder?


For more organization ideas, check out:

Busy Bags Binder using items from the Target Dollar Spot
Art Table and Art Supply Storage System
Back to School Homework Caddy

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