Scarlett Pannebaker

Last year I was apart of a blogger swap for busy bags, focused on our toddler/preschooler (Truman) as the recipient of the bag-o-fun. The main point of the busy bag, for those of you who are not constantly bombarded with ideas from Pinterest, is to give the child something he or she can do independently. Once you show them how it should be done, they should be able to complete the task without help---and bonus if it really does keep them busy for awhile! The first time I did this we all created seven of the exact same activity and then received six new activities for our little ones. It was super fun and we still use a lot of those busy bags today.

This year, Erinn from Strawberry Swing and Other Things, emailed myself and other (different from my first time) bloggers asking if we wanted to do a 'Back to School' themed bag swap for our two year olds. First, Cecelia NEEDS something to keep her busy these days as she still has not discovered the beauty of the boob tube (somewhat kidding, but not really--would a few minutes of Elmo kill you, child?). Second, I really do love creating fun activities like this and Erinn set it up so that we only had to make one bag. So yes, I was in. 

The guidance she gave us was to keep it inexpensive, no small pieces that little ones may want to ingest, and then she matched us up secretly using the Elfster site. I'll do a separate post on what I created, but today I wanted to show you what Cecelia received. 

Michelle from Ten June was the blogger who drew Cecelia's name and she did a spectacular job with this busy bag! I love it so much: Popsicle Felt Matching.

She used popsicle sticks and added tiny felt squares of color. Then larger felt 'popsicles' have a hole at the bottom, so that CC can match her colors and place the correct stick into the felt. Genius!


Sometimes CC gets a little frustrated trying to fit the stick into the hole but she's got the hang of it now. And she really needs work on her colors since she truly does NOT seem to care at all about them. Usually she will roll her eyes at me if I ask, 'What color is this?' but with this busy bag, she seemed to care more than her typical 0%. First attempt and she was able to match about half of the colors, the other half she didn't even come close. Oh, Cecelia. At least there is the bonus of fine motor practice trying to get the stick inside the felt, and I know she will learn her colors in due time.


(I definitely helped with this beautiful rainbow of felt-pops).




We obviously needed a smoothie and cereal snack break during this grueling brain-power activity;)

Love it so much, and I think the zippered floral bag *might* be the biggest hit of all. Cecelia asked me if she could put other toys inside, proceeded to shove some legos in there, and then announced that she was off to work with her bag under her arm. Oh boy.

Such a fun busy bag swap! It would be really easy to whip up for a little one in your house, and I like that it's something she can grow into a bit.

Here is the list of everyone who participated. 

Erin at Hello Erin

Stay tuned for a post on what I made and how I made it! But head over to Nat Your Average Gal if you want a sneak peek. We are encouraging you all to post about your busy bag ideas next Monday, September 15th. Then link up on any of the above blogs to spread the busy bag love, and have fun!