“Are we there yet?” “Can we go now?” “How much longer?” “I’m bored!”
Sound familiar?
Last month I shared ‘7 Busy Bag Ideas for Busy Toddlers’ – if you missed it and have a toddler please pop over and have a look. Today I have 7 Busy Bag Ideas for Preschoolers (children aged between 3-5 years). Although children of this age may be better at amusing themselves and can perhaps sit still for longer periods of time than a toddler – busy bags are still a great resource to have at hand to keep your preschooler entertained at times when there isn’t a lot else for them to do (doctor’s offices, long car trips, flights, restaurants, etc).
7 Busy Bag Ideas for Busy Preschoolers
1. Peg Colour Matching
This busy bag is great for fine motor development. The colour swatches (paint samples) are from my local hardware store – and the pegs from my clothes line! Ask your child to match the peg to the correct colour – and count them once they’re done! So much learning in one simple bag!
2. Shape Creations!
It’s great for preschool children to start learning their shapes and with this busy bag they can create their own. By making each shape from the same colour pop stick this activity is self correcting and a great opportunity to learn how many sides each shape has. Simply put sticky Velcro pieces on the end of each pop stick and viola! Of course, free choice shape construction is fabulous too.
3. Numbers & Gems
When I get this activity out in my classroom it is so popular! The children absolutely love playing with these little gems. This helps children with number identification and counting concrete objects 1-6. You can download the printable number cards here.
4. Alphabet Object Matching
For this busy bag, I used my own name as the example. All you need to do is print or write the letters of your child’s name on card and collect together objects starting with each letter of their name. First ask your child to spell out their name, and then to match each object to each letter.
5. Threading
This threading set was borrowed from my local toy library, but you can use any threading set or make your own with shoelaces and straws or uncooked pasta or chunky wooden beads from a craft store.
6. Bath Toys & Gems
Another popular one with the gems is matching with one-to-one correspondence on the suction cups on small bath toys. All your child needs to do is place a gem on each suction cup and then they can try counting them once they’re done.
7. Paper Clip Chains
Firstly your child could try sorting the paper clips into their colour groups, then make patterns or just one big long paper clip chain. Another great busy bag for fine motor development.
Do you have a favourite busy bag idea?
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Lauren Hunt is an Early Childhood Teacher who currently works part time teaching children in their first year of school. She is also mum to a two year old daughter. Lauren is passionate about play-based, hands-on learning and is certainly kept busy by her energetic toddler!
