Busy Bag Exchange

Baby E and I went to a Busy Bag Exchange earlier this week. Most toddler moms are familiar with busy bags but if you don’t know what they are they are self-contained entertainment that usually develop fine motor skills or teach colors, shapes or numbers.

What we took:

Colored Lacing Cards

I chose to take lacing cards, which might still be a little advanced for Baby E. Each bag contained four different colored shapes and four strings to lace. I found the shapes in the Target dollar bins (I LOVE the dollar bins). The laces were from Hobby Lobby, I just cut them to be a bit longer than needed, melted the ends to keep them from fraying and then tied a knot in one end.

There are two ways they can lace the cards.

Also being different shapes and colors allows for instructions like, “Pick out the yellow star”.

What we received:

Pom Pom Stuff It

The object is simple, stuff the pom poms thru the holes. Baby E has tried this one already and enjoyed it.

Color Matching Clothes Pins

Match the clothes pins to the colored cards. These had English on one side and Spanish on the other. The colored cards also have shapes on the back so they can match the shape with the card as well. Baby E obviously couldn’t wait to get his little fingers on these. Currently he can identify yellow, blue, green and pink so hopefully these will help teach him the rest of the colors.

Pom Pom Counting Cards

This bag contained ten cards with numerals and corresponding dots on them. Toddlers match the pom poms with the dots to help learn counting.

Felt Fishing

These felt fish each had a magnet. Toddler “fish” with their pencil fishing rod. Baby E thought these were a lot of fun and caught on right away.

Block Puzzles

“Puzzles” were shapes on the cards that toddlers recreate with foam blocks. Baby E may need to grow into this one but he liked the blocks a lot!