Learning about pink…

I have to share a story about one of the preschool activity bags recently posted, the Match Me Cards.

As noted, we made 12 cards for the matching activity with six cards having ‘boy items’ (foam vehicles) and the other six having ‘girl items’ (the jewels). This was intentional because I think it is important to expose children to a large variety of colors and shapes and so forth, no matter if the items are ‘made for’ a certain gender. If it were up to my oldest, he would never touch anything pink or soft or feminine.  I don't know why he is like this; he's just decided that he really only likes what he considers 'boy things'!

Two years ago I realized the importance of being aware of what my kids are exposed to in life.
My oldest was learning his colors at the age of two and it was common practice to talk about colors of anything and everything we touched or saw.  I tend to like bright primary colors so most things in life are basic colors of red, blue, green and yellow....from our toys to house decor and our clothing colors and so forth. 

One day we were at our neighbor’s house playing with sidewalk chalk. They have a young daughter and most of their toys are very ‘girly’ colored; even the chalk was mostly shades of reds, whites, and yellows.  My neighbor asked my 2 year old son what color he was holding and he said, “It’s red”.  She corrected him and accurately noted that it was pink.  I commented that “pink” isn’t used in our vocabulary much because there are very few pink items in our house.  ….but that really got me thinking….  My son truly wasn’t exposed to certain colors because they weren’t displayed in his everyday items.

Speed up to present day….as I was assembling several Busy Bags with newly purchased items, my son (now 4 years old) found the gems and informed me that they were “for girls”….and I suddenly had a flash back to the 'pink conversation’ we had years earlier. 

That’s when I realized how great these Busy Bags really are!  They are a wonderful medium to expose my boys to the world of ‘girly things’ without forcing them to use girl toys. And for my ‘all boy’ 4 year old who shys away from anything girly at this stage in life, these activity bags allow him to explore a host of items in a way that he feels is safe and fun! Plus, it allows Mom to get to use the word ‘pink’ and ‘sparkly’ and ‘pretty’ from time-to-time!!

Match Me Cards busy bag

This preschooler activity is developed off of a similar activity suggested by the Parents As Teachers program.  The concept is to have the tot match like-items and use the colors and shapes as a tool for communication.  Our Parent Educator suggested the use of a file folder with pictures of the images taped to the inside of the folder. Then the toddler holds an object and attempts to match the shape by placing the item on-top of the image (i.e. place a round koosh-ball on-top of the flat circle shape on the folder).

This game was modified so that it all fit into a baggie...a file folder is just too big for most bags. I just love the fact that all these busy bags we've done so far are neatly contained in zippered baggies that can all be packed away into our Busy Bag Box (more on that - click here).  Each of our activities fit into their own quart-sized baggies except for one activity that requires a gallon-sized baggie -- the Alphabet Match Up Busy Bag (more on that - click here).

For activity bag creation of these Match Me Cards, we used several colored index cards as well as a variety of matching items.  Most items are relatively flat so the cards will stack well and be easy to handle for little fingers. Our activity includes 12 cards that have six 'boyish' cards using foam vehicle shapes and six cards that have a variety of jewels that are considered ‘girly’ per comments made by my 4-year-old son. Use of both items was intentional because I want my boys to be exposed to a lot of crafty items, even if they are girly. *wink*

Truly, this bag could be tailored to girls or boys and the 'match up' items can be anything from buttons to pasta or whatever is on-hand. Plus it can be tailored for any age by offering one item to match for 1 – 2 year olds or offering a pattern of items for 3 – 5 year olds.

There are a host of ways to play this game also.  You can simply ask the child to find the match.  If they have good motor control, you can also ask that they lay the matching piece so it mirrors the permanent item or even have them place the match on-top!

For more photos, go to the Facebook page under "BusyBagCentral" and be sure to "Like' us so you can get in on the fan-only giveaways!  Orders can be taken on Facebook or by emailing from the blog.

Rainbow Bright busy bag

This is one of my favorite bags so far!  My 2 year old has impressed me greatly when playing with this bag.  I didn’t realize he knew so many of the colors; for example, he was enticed by the bright pieces the first time I pulled it out and he quickly picked up a red jewel saying “ooh, red” and then placed it on the red felt swatch….all without me instructing him what to do! 

We played with this again today and he was very excited to match all the items with their colors.  It took a bit of encouraging to cleanup after playing since he was so proud of his work and didn’t want to put it away.  And we learned that it was probably better to dump the bag onto a cookie sheet before starting since the beads tend to roll around and need to be contained during play.

My 4-yr old also enjoys this activity. He already knows his colors so the joy of this bag comes more from inspecting each item and placing them in different orders on the color swatches.

This bag includes 8 different colors of felt, sized 4" by 2", and has 3-5 coordinating items per color. As with all other bags from Busy Bag Central (if you decide to order!), the activity is contained in the usual zippered-top plastic bag....zippered top is important because little fingers can easily manipulate it for opening and for cleaning up by themself. *wink*

It also folds down very small so it's perfect to pack away into our Busy Bag Box of activities or even in a diaper bag if we need a project when out 'n' about. The felt is a good medium for the items to sit ontop because it somewhat grabs the gems and also lets the beads 'sit' instead of roll like they would on paper.

For more photos, go to the Facebook page under "BusyBagCentral" and be sure to "Like" us so you can get in on the fan-only giveaways! Orders can be taken on Facebook or by emailing from the blog.