Preschool Busy Bag Swap

INSTRUCTIONS:

You will make X number of identical bags (such as 12 colour wheel bags) for everyone in the swap. We will determine this number once everyone has signed up. The goal is that everyone will have at least 20 bags. If we only get 10 people signed up, maybe each person can pick two activities bags so that we have lots of variety.


The goal is to keep each bag as close to $1 as possible so nobody goes broke. I will post more ideas than needed so that there are lots of choices. You can modify the ideas, they are just for your convenience. You can also sign up for something that is not on the list if you find something that you would rather do.


All activities must fit in a large (gallon size) freezer ziplock bag, must be self-contained (doesn’t require extra materials not included in the bag) and must be non-consumable.


Put together the quality kind of bag you would want to receive in return. This is really important to remember! Of course we want to be cheap but we also want the activity to hold up to toddler use.


The deadline for sign up is August 16th and I can host the swap at my house in Stouffville on Friday, August 30th at 7 PM (no kiddos though please…there won’t be enough room for all of us and the kids).  The swap will be at the playground at Fairy Lake on Friday August 30th at 9:30 AM.


If you sign up you are making a commitment to be part of the swap. It is not fair to the other swappers if a handful of half hearted interest people sign up, only to flake out at some point. That would mean that many people spent time and money assembling 20 activities, but would not receive 20 in return. If you're not sure if you can handle the expense or the time investment at this time, then maybe you should pass this time around. If however, you do sign up with full intentions of participating, but then realize that for some reason you are unable to continue, please let me know right away, so that I can make arrangements.

IDEAS: 

1. Butterfly symmetry 

Here's a link to a PDF detailing how to make it

2. Heads and Tails

An animal heads and tails matching game. You can work on animal names, sounds, matching skills…turn it into a memory game when they are a little older.

3. Colour wheels

Small wooden wheels painted in a rainbow of colours (2 wheels each), a pencil case for storage, and cars drawn on paint sample cards!

4. Mr Potato Head

Mr. Potato head made out of felt. Good for learning body parts.

5. Popsicle Stick Shapes

These shape sticks are made with jumbo craft sticks and velcro dots. Also, the coloured dots give a visual clue for preschoolers and help keep the correct sticks together to form the shapes. You can also include extra sticks with velcro for exploratory play.

6. Sponge Blocks 

They can be dominos. They can be building blocks. They can be for building shapes knowledge. Or colour knowledge. You can build houses with them because they stick to each other a little bit as you build.

7. Build a Rainbow

Reinforces visual discrimination, size sequencing, colors and fine motor skills.

Click here for PDF instructions

8. Dry Erase I spy 

Print the I Spy page on white cardstock (in black & white), trim them to slide into the ziplock bag easier, and laminate them. Then use these I Spy cards which are all ready to be printed out and cut apart. You can write words on them if you want.

9. Dry Erase Pre-writing Cards 

Print the writing skills cards on white cardstock and laminate them. After you cut them out, you can punch holes in the corners and place them all on a book ring. Use washable dry erase markers to trace the lines (from left to right) and then erase their “writing” with a small cloth rag or a sock that has lost its match.

10. Clothespin number match up 

All that it requires is a pack of clothespins and this printable.

11. Felt cupcake match up

Here is the link to the complete kit for this busy bag. It includes free patterns, instructions on putting together the bag, instructions to stick inside the bag, and some ideas on variations of ways to use this bag.

12. Clothesline

Here is the link to the complete kit for this busy bag. It includes free patterns, instructions on putting together the bag, instructions to stick inside the bag, and some ideas on variations of ways to use this bag.

13. No Sew Felt Fish 

All you need is some felt, some washers, a magnet, an unsharpened pencil, some yarn and a hot glue gun. Cut out the fish from the felt, place a washer between them and hot glue gun the edges together. Then decorate with puffy paint or markers.

14. Pasta Noodle Sort 

Here is a link to a webpage showing how to dye the noodles. Then just include some sort of colour coded container to sort each colour noodle into. You can also include some string and pipe cleaners for the option of stringing the noodles.

15. Car Race Game 

Instructions for making these road cards can be found here.

16. Pizza Factory

Make felt pizza crust, sauce, pepperoni, green peppers, mushrooms, olives and cheese. Then print out the order cards from here, here and here.

17. Magnetic Paper Clip Sorting

This one is fun because the child can choose their own method of sorting. You can start the child off by putting one of each colour on each stick but can also let them do their own thing. It can also be used for patterning! Simply add magnetic strips to popsicle sticks then purchased multicoloured metal paper clips.

18. Lacing Cards

You can print out these templates and cut out animals from craft foam. Then punch out even spaced holes along the edges. Include yarn or string for lacing.

19. Wood and Felt Matching Game

Purchase small round, wooden discs and use sticky back felt to attach shapes to the discs (or hot glue gun regular felt). For toddlers use this as a colour and shape matching game. Preschoolers and older kids can turn the discs over and use this as a individual or group memory game.

20. Matching Colour Shades

You can make this easy matching activity with the instructions from this webpage.

21. Fabulous Frogs

Instructions and printables can be found here for this counting activity.

22. Lacing cards

Uses sink mats (or any similar plastic object with holes) and ribbon.  An example is shown here.

23. Block Puzzles

You can buy foam blocks at the dollar store and then print out these block patterns.

24. Matching Eggs
Take 26 plastic eggs and break them apart.  Put an upper case letter on the top half, and its corresponding lower case letter on the bottom half.

Activity	Name
1. Butterfly symmetry
2. Heads and Tails	Sara Beamish
3. Colour Wheels
4. Mr. Potato Head	Janet W.
5. Popsicle Stick Shapes	Erin
6. Sponge Blocks
7. Build a Rainbow	Sara Beamish
8. Dry Erase I Spy
9. Dry Erase pre-writing cards	Emma Hughes
10. Clothespin number matchup	Coral Night
11. Felt cupcake matchup	Janet W.
12. Clothesline	Dawn C.
13. No Sew Felt Fish
14.Pasta Noodle Sort	Teresa Yu
15. Car Race Game
16. Pizza Factory	Teresa Yu
17. Magnetic Paper Clip Sorting	Emma Hughes
18. Lacing Cards	Coral Night
19. Wood and Felt Matching game	Janine
20. Matching colour shades	Dawn C.
21. Fabulous Frogs	Christine L.
22. Lacing cards	Christine L.
23. Block puzzles	Janine
24. Matching eggs