Busy Bags: Round 2

This is round 2 of our favorite busy bags. If you missed Busy Bags: Round 1, you can find it here. 

PATTERN STICKS

These pattern sticks were made using color coding labels. I used this TEMPLATE to make the pattern cards and laminated them. Then put the color coding labels on the Popsicle sticks. You can make as many different pattern cards as you would like.

NUMBER WHEEL

Here is a free PRINTABLE for the number wheel. Once I printed it out, I glued it onto cardboard. You then write numbers 1-10 on a clothespin and have your child clip them on to the correct number of dots.  

BUTTON SNAKE

You can find free instructions on how to make this from Mama Gab. There are different versions of this activity but I liked this one because of the felt shapes. This activity was given to me and the person that gave this to me added a snake tail, eyes, and tongue. I think it is so cute.

POPSICLE STICK PUZZLES

These Popsicle stick puzzles are a popular activity but they are nice because they kids enjoy them and there are so many options on what pictures to use. These Popsicle stick puzzles represent the four seasons and are graphics of mycutegraphics.com You can print out each picture from HERE, cut on the dotted lines and then use Mod Podge to glue them onto the Popsicle stick. I store each puzzle in a snack size Ziploc bag to keep them from getting all mixed together. 

All of our busy bags activities are stored away in a Ziploc bag and then we have all the bags in a plastic bin so they can be easily stored away. Do you have any favorite busy bags? I would love to share your ideas!

Busy Bags: Round 1

I have participated in a few busy bags swaps and have made several of my own. I love having extra and fun activities for the kids. There are a few activities that my kids seem to never get bored of and so I wanted to share of some of our favorites. UPDATE: Round 2 of busy bags can be found here

KIDS CLOTHING LINE

My mother in law has a real clothes line that she still uses to dry her clothes so my kids love this activity because it is just like Grandma. This activity is probably there favorite! You can found a free instruction and pattern download from Money Saving Mom. 

POPSICLE STICK PATTERNS

These Popsicle stick patterns is something I made for my kids. This activity is more challenging for younger kids but my oldest boy who is 6 loves these. There are 2 sets of patterns. 

DOWNLOAD set 1

The first set are easier patterns and there are 8 cards. 

DOWNLOAD set 2

The second set are more difficult patterns and there are 6 cards. 

PAPER CLIP MATCHING

This activity is really easy to put together. All you need is colored paper clips and matching paint samples from your local paint store. My kids have fun sorting the colors and linking them together. For durability I would recommend laminating your paint samples. 

ALPHABET MATCHING

For this activity, I used 2 inch square wood disc and alphabet letter stickers. To keep the stickers from falling off, I put Mod Podge over the stickers. You can use these wood disc to play alphabet matching game, practice name spelling, and for older kids practice sight words. 

BE READY for round 2, next week I will be sharing more favorite busy bags ideas!

Chicken themed color recognition poem

This week in preschool, we are learning about chicks and hens. I found this adorable hen poem that will go right along with our theme. The added bonus is the poem is also good for reviewing colors.

Click here to download

 

I also using images or props to go with each line to keep the kids engaged!

Smack the spider color recognition

My older son and I have played the game smack the spider letter recognition game where you call out a letter to your child and then let them find and smack the spider with the letter you called out. My son loves this game and it is requested to play this game throughout the whole year. It is a fun game so I though why not make my own version of smack the spider with color recognition. I know we are going to be playing this game a lot and it is a great game to go along with Halloween or really just any time of the year!

All you need is a fly swatter and the free print out below.

Click here to download

Preschool: Color Yellow

Color Focus Book

Ten Rubber Ducks by Eric Carle

Song: Happy Song

Ducks in the Pond quack a happy song

Mother Hen cackles the whole day long

Birds in their nest and wind in the treetops

All join in singing a happy song

Activity: Use blue food coloring and water to turn your bathtub into a duck pond. Let your child play with yellow rubber duck. Use the yellow rubber ducks to practice counting. 

It was a warm day at our house so we skipped the bathtub, grabbed a clear plastic bin and headed outside.  

Color Focus Book

Yellow by Sarah L Schuette

Color Focus Book

Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell 

(Focusing on Yellow Lion)

Activity: Dear Zoo story props. Use the story props and help your child place the animals in their correct cage. The story props can be found here

Activity: Keep the Lion in the cage

This is from a zoo animal playdough mat set from the website Sparkle Box.
To minimize the mess, I had my child use use yellow pip cleaner. You can download the playdough mat using this link. Scroll down on the page and the download is titled Zoo animal playdough mats

 Art Activity: Post it flag lion

I found this adorable simple craft from the blog Having Fun at Home. 

Preschool lesson plan on the color red

Color Focus Book

Red by Sarah L Schuette

Activity: Go on a color hunt and collect things that are the color red

Color Focus Book

Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchines

 

Art Activity: Apple Stamping

Instructions: Cut an apple in half, have your child dip the apple into red paint and stamp onto white cardstock paper.

Color Focus Book

Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown

Activity: Big Red Barn spinning wheel.

I found this idea from Storytime ABC's but could not find a pattern to print out so I made this printable to share. 

I used this wheel to identify some farm animals and the sound that each of them make. I came up with this little tune as I was spinning the wheel.

The Animals on the Farm

(Sung to the tune The Farmer in the Dell)

The animals on the farm, the animals on the farm, heigh ho the dairy oh which animal is in the red barn? 

This tune is also included in the printable download that you can find here.

Color focused activities for preschool

I have mentioned before that I will be starting preschool for my little man who is going to be two in September. I have been working on my lesson plans and activities. Many of these activities I did with my older and I am so excited to spend time with my younger son doing some of the same activities.  Here is some fun things I have planned.

Color bingo

Download your free color bingo here

 

Since my little man is still young, I wanted to create a game for him that would only focus on a few colors at a time so he won't get overwhelmed. This set I made includes bingo calling cards and four bingo boards. 

Apple carton color sort

I have seen a lot of color sorts with people using muffin tins but didn't want to necessarily go out and buy one. However, we do buy a lot of apples from Costco and the apple carton works great

  

Pill container color bead sort

I was in line at the dollar store when I saw this 7 day pill container with all the different colors. I love finds like this and it will fit in well with my colors preschool lessons. I like these containers because they are small and compact, you can take them apart or keep them together, and they are great for small objects.

After sorting the beads, it also makes a great music shaker. You can have your child also practice twisting the containers together to tune up their fine motor skills.

Clothespin color wheel

Download your free color wheel here

I made this color wheel awhile back when I did a toddler busy bag exchange in my neighborhood. It was around Easter time and it was hard to find clothespins for all the color, so I bought wooden clothes pins and used Easter egg dye to stain the clothespin. However I do think Rit dye would be even better.

Dice color game

 

 The first dice I made (one the left) for my boys was so well used, I had to make another one. For the dice on the left I used scrapbook paper and mod podge. For the dice on the right I used felt and hot glue. These dice provides hours of entertainment and can be used in so many different ways to teach colors and numbers for when they are older. Some of our favorite games are color scavenger hunt or what we call color hop.

For color scavenger hunt, your child rolls the dice and for example if they  lands on red, then they have to go find something red in the house and bring it to you (It goes great with the apple carton color sort).

For color hop, lay out color mats all over in the room. Have your child roll the dice and then  race to whatever color the dice lands on. Of course  you can give them a little bit of a head start so they can figure out what color was rolled and where the color is in the room. 

File folder game

Musical color hop

For musical hop, you turn on some music and have your child walk around the circle. You stop the music at any time and when the music is stopped, your child also stops and then names what color is in front of them. You can add some gross motor skills by having them do various actions such as crawling around the circle, hopping around the circle, etc.  Even though my 4 year old already knows his colors, he still loves to play this game.

Other fun color focused activities

Color matching board from Childcare Land

Color match car parking from The Princess and the Tot

File folder games from File Folder Fun or Confession of a Homeschooler

High five hand felt from Toddler Toddler

Sorting Legos from The Unlikely Homeschool

Fun Toddler activity with flip books

  

 My little boy likes to flip through things and I needed something to keep him quiet during church so I came up with these toddler flip books. They were so easy to make and he loves looking through them. They are so many different themes you could do and it is great way to keep a little one distracted for awhile, even more four year old likes to look at them. I first laminated them, did a single hole punch in the top corner and them put all the pictures on a single binder ring. Below you will you find a link for some of the flip books I put together as well as a link to the clip art website I used.

 Transportation Theme

 

Color Theme

Ocean Theme

Bugs and insects theme

Fall scavenger hunt

For preschool this week my 4 year old son and I have been learning about the letter F. I created a very simple fall scavenger hunt for him. I gave him a clipboard and pen which he loved and when he found something on his paper, he would put an X through it. It was a fun activity to teach him about some of the things we see in the Fall and a great way to enjoy being outdoors.

For a copy of our fall scavenger hunt please click here