Easter Egg matching activity

Easter Egg Matching activity! With this weekend holding a fun-filled activity that will probably leave your home with lots of empty eggs by Monday, here is an activity that can put them to creative use this next week! 

Create a scene with construction paper. Trace the shape of the eggs, cut out the halves and then mix them up (i.e. yellow on top and green on the bottom). Then secure the mis-matched eggs onto your background.
Give the preschooler the eggs and ask them to find the matching pairs and place ontop of the correct images on the scene! 

For the younger tot (2 to 3 years), have the eggs already popped in half and ready to match together.  For the older preschooler (4 to 6 years), give them the eggs whole and ask them to pop open and match together by themselves.

Another version is to let the tot create the background scene with you!  Let them practice egg tracing (a hard skill for younger preschoolers) and have them run the gluing of the objects to the background paper.  They can also color or draw on the finished scene for more fun.

I saw a post on one of my favorite blogs (MoneySavingMom.com) that had ideas for reusing plastic eggs with egg cartons and realized that these little objects are perfect for developing finger strength as well as growing sorting skills.  This activity also builds skill sets of: color recognition, finger strength, object manipulation, sorting and grouping as well as skills in patterning and shape recognition.

Enjoy your weekend and may it be filled with the Hope that is found in Jesus Christ!

Toothpick Trace busy bag

(Disclaimer: This activity is suggested for older preschoolers who can safely use toothpicks without hurting themselves.)

Here is an interesting activity that I’ve called Toothpick Trace.  I was reading about different ways to develop hand-eye-coordination in older preschoolers and they suggested using toothpicks to ‘trace’ – have the child poke holes along a pattern line.

As shown above, place a hand towel on a flat surface then a dark colored piece of construction paper and top with a pattern. (Our patterns were hand-traced from favorite puzzle pieces but you could just print off some clipart shapes.)  Once the holes are poked, the dark colored piece of paper can be hung in a window to let the light shine through the new outline!

Wooden clothes pins are placed to secure the top and bottom so my preschooler can focus on his handiwork with the toothpicks.  To reduce the risk of injury, I may go buy some of those fun toothpicks with silly decals at the top (such as little umbrellas) so there is only one sharp end.

Now, this activity does break a rule of the Busy Bag criteria list…all bags are:
non-messy and/or quick clean up, totally independent in use, interesting enough to last 15-30 minutes, and reusable products <—the rule breaker.

Even though this basically fits the concept of other Busy Bags, I wanted to give it a try with my four year old. He doesn’t show interest in writing or drawing or doodling. If he does any of these activities, it’s because I told him that he had to and then the activity only lasts 5 minutes.  This also means he doesn’t have very good skills with using pencils or paint brushes.

So I’m open to any kind of activity for him that builds his skill at “writing”…and using toothpicks is included! 

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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!

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Small motor activity: Valentine’s Day card box

My 4-yr old is in preschool and their schedule noted trading V-day cards on Tuesday, Valentine’s day. So I thought it’d be fun to make a box for his cards based off an idea a friend posted on Facebook.

Using an empty soda pop box, we first wrapped red cardstock paper around it and taped it securely. Then I cut out hearts from a pink cardstock and we taped the hearts and the cutouts as well as decorated with puff paint per instructions from the one in-charge (my 4 year old).

{One of my ‘parenting bag of tricks’ is to present scenarios during craft time or playtime as if the child is leading all choices.  I provide narrative situations in which they get to give their decisions with decision-based play. This way, when it comes to chore time or bed time, and it's my turn to tell them what to do, the child is less likely to fight my lead since they’ve been encouraged to lead another part of their day. Many toddler outbursts are due to a need to show control; and what, really, does a youngster get to control in their world?!? I’m a pretty strict parent and know that my kids behave better if they are taught how to lead and when it's appropriate for them to be in-charge.}

Since this became a choo-choo train, the last step was to tape construction paper onto a toilet roll and tape it down and then add fuzzy yarn for our steam stack….and whala!

The craft was very quick and a majority of the time was spent learning how to operate a tape dispenser.  Learning to tear tape is a hard skill at the beginning…not folding the tape or tearing it too short or too long, not touching the teeth/blade, etc. There are so many things to learn in life!

What did your household do for Valentine’s day? Please share in the comments below.  Anyone have a great family tradition that you have done? We’re looking for ideas!

Alphabet Match-up busy bag

This activity is pretty straight forward – give the alphabet sheet to the child then the letters and let them match up.  But there are actually several ways to play!

To start, we usually dump this bag onto a cookie sheet since the letters are magnetic and will stay on the page better with the metal sheet underneath. Then let the child match the magnet letters to those on the paper.  Another way to encourage color recognition is to have the child place all the yellow letters first, for example.  Or you can work on letter recognition and ask them to only place the letters in their name.

This is a favorite busy bag because of how quick it is to clean up! Once done, swipe into the bag and close shut!  Ta-da! Maybe that’s why I love these bags so much...or maybe because the bags fold down so small (making me feel like there is somehow more space in my small house *wink*); or maybe because it’s a tool to learn and doesn’t include electronics; or whatever the reason, I just enjoy these activities just as much as my kiddos do!

The criteria for all Busy Bags includes the following:
> non-messy and/or quick clean up
>totally independent in use
>reusable products
>and interesting enough to last 15-30 minutes


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.

Bean Counter busy bag

According to our Parent Educator with the Parents As Teachers program, many of the children entering Kindergarten can count 1 to 10 but, if you put 5 items in-front of them, they don’t know how to count them….meaning that they don’t realize that numbers are associated with quantities of items.  She said that parents do a good job of helping them learn the sequence of numbers but it’s also VERY important to actually have the child count out items when memorizing their numbers.  Association and visual counting is just as important as is knowing which number comes next!

One of the easiest ways to help a preschooler learn to visually count is by providing objects for the user to see and touch when practicing their counting.  This busy bag, called Bean Counter, is a fun tool to grow this skill.

The bag contains a large handful of dry beans and a stack of 10 index cards; each with one number on the front and coordinating number of stickers on the back. 

Upon opening this bag for my 2-year-old for the first time, I instructed him to use one card at a time and place the beans on each sticker as he counted aloud, then announce when completed.  Well, that smart cookie realized the numbers were also stickers -- right after I gave him the #1, he announced he was done! I look over to see that he’s placed a bean on the actual number….funny kid.  At least he did follow directions!
We then reviewed what he was ‘supposed to do’ and the bean counting took a bit longer this time. :)  He had a lot of fun inspecting the stickers on each card because each set was different.  Plus the cards with higher numbers had smaller stickers and he spent a lot of time just looking at everything before placing beans. 
My 4-year-old jumped in to ‘help’ and he showed more interest in completing the cards in order than focusing on the actual stickers….I guess the activity interest will vary a lot from child to child as well as with each use. 
I’m not a big fan of using flashcards because I’m not diligent enough to present them regularly but….this activity is fun because it’s self-correcting and is self-led play.

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.

Pop The Popsicle busy bag

This neat busy bag has several ways to play perfect for different levels of preschoolers!  My kids just got a play-kitchen so they are into ‘eating’ with toys and this is a great addition to our assortment of food. Plus they LOVE eating real popsicles so this activity fosters a lot of communication between all of us.

This busy bag has 6 different colors of popsicles with coordinating popsicle sticks. Each stick has text on each side and on each end --- resulting in 4 different ways to play.  Depending upon your preschooler’s age and reading level, the adult is to present the popsicle tops to the child and then give the sticks and point out which end/words to use for the activity. 

Here are different ways to play using the sticks:
Version #1 – For the non-reader, use the end of the stick with the coordinating color dot and letter (first letter of the color and will help build letter recognition and use of sounding out the color name).

Version #2 – For the very early reader (and some non-readers who are good with colors), use the end with the color name written in corresponding color; i.e. ‘blue’ is written in blue.

Version #3 – For the basic reader, use the end with color names written in black.

Version #4 – For readers, use the end with popsicle flavor names written in black. We added a 'cheater' color swab on this end as well since our kiddos cannot read yet. 


If you end up ordering from us and would like to include your child's favorite colors or patterns, just let me know.  I have a huge variety of paper in my stock-pile so I can tailor this activity based upon user preferences.
We can also tailor the flavor-names written on the sticks.  The flavor list currently used is based off the original flavors of popsicles when they became a popular commodity (back in the 1950's)!

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.