Busy Bag!

 We are on the road A LOT! We rarely if ever spend a weekend at home and with 3 kids in 3 different schools, activities, meetings etc. there is always something going on somewhere! Being constantly on the go means a lot of offices, restaurants, waiting and quiet time, so I developed a small bag that would keep them quietly busy while we are on the go!

While everything you see here really does all fit well into this bag, I only like to keep 6 things at most in here at a time and usually not all that much. It makes them appreciate each and every game and get really into it too!

 My 3 year old likes to now carry his own treat bags and backpacks, so I knew the new busy bag had to be his size! This is an old Fisher Price toy bag that we used to keep in the van when our daughter was a baby! It's finally found a new home. The following items, I don't discuss in detail, so I will just touch on them now. Clothespins are ALWAYS a fun activity no matter where they are, so I threw a couple of those in, along with some Ziploc baggies (always needed for something or other!), wipes and a reusable juice box round up the random bits that are in here!

 1. Our Felt Easter Eggs Counting game. This is a fun game that I will go into more detail in tomorrow's post! I added baby chick and rhinestone counters too! These are fun alone or with the game, as I also included a sorting tray to turn 1 game into many more.

 2. Our craft in a minute coming this Friday is another must have in our busy bag! This is just cardboard pieces of 'road' that the kids piece together in multiple ways that always seems to make play last forever! There are 3 cars that we keep in here that I change out periodically, to make it more new and fun each time! Once in awhile I will add a new piece of road too.

 3.Button Snakes kit!These fun kits are such a blast to work with that all 3 kids often want to start with this! The buttons serve multiple purposes in this bag too!

4. A fun notebook, pencil, crayons and drawing direction die! I will touch on the die in a future craft in a minute post, but for now, I will tell you that this is definitely one of their favorite games to play while waiting in a restaurant. The person whose turn it is throws the die and then has to draw whatever comes up on top, the next person has to start where that person left off, drawing what they in turn roll. It's a super easy game, that gets crazier when the page starts getting really full! We like that even the youngest one in the family can get really into it.

 5. Caps Caps Caps! These fun caps are fun for word play! We like to spell out easy words and then pass the word to the next person where they can then add a letter or subtract a letter to form a new word! This one gets really entertaining!

6. Wrap Up Games. I found these awesome Wrap Up games on clearance at our local teacher store! There are 12 of them for only 3.00!! I couldn't believe it, I wish there had been more than 1 as these would have made an awesome giveaway or even gift in an educational basket. They start out very easy and get more difficult as you get to the 12th card. They are a very sturdy plastic and hold up well to play.

7. Memory, Story Dice and Hourglass. These are fun things that are so tiny, they can fit in a pocket if need be! The Memory Game was something we all had a blast making on a crafty afternoon and when the big kids play, because it's so easy, we add in an hourglass! The hourglass alone is also fun for watching and thinking of other games to play with it! We also love our story die, you roll it and start the story with what lands on top! Another craft-in-a-minute activity that was too fun for words that it instantly went onto our list of DIY gifts! We plan on making up one big basket full of our DIY activities very soon for 1 lucky winner! That will be coming up in the future! For now snag yourself a memory game!! 

8. Did you know that 3ft of yarn can be a blast for 3 kids? Neither did I, I put these 2 spools in here with 1 full of yarn for my son to unravel as he raveled it back up on the empty one. While that is a good game, they discovered that they could make 'bridges' for the clothespins, make shapes from tying one end to something and then wrapping it around somewhere else and on and on it goes!

9. Nuts and Bolts! I touch this later on this week, but a simple activity is so fun for everyone! (yup, even mom gets in on this one!!) they love to see who can screw on the most nuts onto 1 bolt the fastest, or  how many they can put onto all the bolts before the hourglass is up. These are just perfect everywhere and for all! (You can buy larger bolts and nuts if you worry about the size, but this is just right for my 3).

10. Topple Pieces. Our Topple game has loads of pieces (have you read my thrifty post?), so I knew I could snag away a bunch and they would go unnoticed. I have 30 of these that sit in their own little drawstring pouch and the kids try and see how many they can stack before they fall, who can stack 10 the fastest, how many they can stack before the hourglass time is up...etc. Fun in a pouch!

11. Number flashcards. Just a fun way to go through the numbers! Every other card has a chipboard number on it and the card following it has the matching amount of stickers. We take them off the ring, for a quick matching game sometimes.

12. Easter Alphabet Game! This fun game is very versatile and can be played so many ways too!!

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Hope you liked your journey into our busy bag!!