Busy Bag Swap

A couple of months ago I came across a busy bag swap on the Internet.  I was familiar with a busy bag but I had never heard of a busy bag swap! The idea of a busy bag swap caught my attention because I have been struggling with ideas for activities to do with Owen on these cold winter days where we are stuck inside.

Since we have moved to Tennessee I have met several other moms from playgroups, toddler time at the library, church, and other moms whose husbands are in medical school, so I knew I could get a big group that would be interested in a swap.  I sent out an invitation to some of the moms of toddlers and preschoolers that I had met and told them they could also invite anyone they knew who may be interested.  We ended up with 14 people sign up for the swap!

Here's the info from the invitation for the swap:

- Each person will come up with ONE idea for a Busy Bag. (You can google "Busy Bag" to find some cute ideas if you are needing inspiration!) ...
-The craft/activity that you make should be self-contained, inexpensive, reusable, something the kids can do independently, and should fit in a gallon zip-lock bag.
-You will make enough of your bags for all those participating in the swap. (For example, if we have 15 people participating in the swap, I will make 15 of the same craft/activity. I will come to the swap with 15 gallon zip-lock bags of the same craft/activity.)
-If you would like to be a part of the Busy Bag swap, let me know via e-mail, or fb by Wednesday, January 18th and I will send you an e-mail or fb message letting you know how many baggies you will be making! :)
-Please feel free to invite other moms who have toddlers/preschoolers!! The more moms that participate the better and bigger our Busy Bags will be!!
-We will meet at my house on Saturday January 28th at 7:30 to swap our baggies!! Bring a dessert or finger food and I will provide the drinks as we enjoy some mommy time!! :)
-If you are not able to attend the swap on January 28th you can still participate! You will just need to get me your baggies before the swap and we will make your bag for you!

On the night of the swap, we had 1 person not show up so we each came with 14 bags but only needed 13. Since we each had an extra activity we made a bag for friend of mine back home who has 3 year old little girl and who is on bed rest with the second baby.

Before we shared our activities, we enjoyed some yummy snacks!

We went around the room and introduced ourselves, told how many kids we have and their ages, and shared/demonstrated our activity.

Passing out my busy bag activity!

Jessica telling us about her I-spy jar she made! Sooooo cool!!

Me and Michelle :)

Brittany passing out her awesome traffic light bean bag activity!!

Michelle demonstrating her whale lacing activity.

The first busy bag swap group picture! :) 

Here are pictures of all of the different activities that we each have for our busy bags!!

This is a shape tracing activity.  Amber P. printed out and laminated 5 different shapes and included a car to trace the shape.  You could also use play dough to form the different shapes.

I made hot glue rubbings.  I cut up boxes and made a sun, flower, heart, smiley face, and a star out of hot glue.  I included several different color crayons in each of my bags.

Summer made a color wheel with colored clothespins to match.

 Michelle made a lacing whale out of foam and yarn.

Carrie made preschool poker using different color poker chips.  This was a neat idea because you can do so many different things with the chips!  She included some of the different ways you could use them in her bag!

Jessica made the I-spy jar using rice and different little objects.  The kids shake and roll around the jar to find the objects pictured on the front!

Lori dyed different shapes and types of pasta and included pipe cleaners and yarn! The kids could string the pasta, make necklaces, or just sort the pasta into different colors!

Kendra made this really cool fishing game out of felt!

Heather made this neat bag out of hair gel and glitter!  We all enjoyed this one while she was passing them out! The kids can make shapes, letters, ect. using their fingers!

 

Nina made homemade playdough!

Laura made this bag and included a Q-tip to draw on the bag! I had fun with this bag as I was taking the picture! 

Amer G. made another sensory bag using dish soap! So much fun to play with!!

Brittany made this awesome stop light game using bean bags!  She included several different ideas for what to do with the stop light and matching bean bags! She actually made the bean bags herself! :)

So...here is a busy bag for Owen complete with 13 different activities (and I only had to come up with one idea)!! :) I'm so excited to pull them out one at a time and let him play!

I am so excited to have another swap in a few months!! It was so much fun to see what everyone else had made! I have already been thinking about the next swap...maybe an Easter themed swap, or a spring/summer swap??

Pruitt Playschool (Letter F)

We have been studying the letter "F" for the past two weeks.  We have been so busy with playgroups and story time at the library that we didn't get to fit in all our activities in one week! :)  Owen enjoyed the letter "F" and all the activities we did over the past two weeks!

Our bible verse for the week:

The Lord is good to all.  Psalm 145:9

We made a fire out of popsicle sticks and torn tissue paper! It's amazing how much a sheet of tissue paper can entertain a 2 year old!

Making fingerprint flowers!  This was a fun activity that he could do mostly by himself!  Grace Ann even got to make a flower with her fingerprints! :)

Studying the letter "F".

Instead of using dot paint this week to introduce the letter, we used our fingerprints!

But we had to use dot paint at some point! :) So...we used the dot paint to paint a frog!

I saw a really cute fox made out of the letter "F" on pintrest so we gave it a try!  Ours didn't turn out as cute, but Owen enjoyed making it anyways!

We talked about animals that started with the letter "F". 

Since we studied the letter "F" this week (and last) I had to take a picture of the kids in their footed pajamas!! :)  I thought they looked adorable in them! 

Our bulletin board with some of our crafts we did for the letter "F"!  Take note of the amazing hand print fish that Michelle did with Owen while I took Grace Ann to the doctor!!  She is so brave with all the cute things she does with paint!! :)

The possibilities are endless...

...now that Michelle and I can fit all four of our kids into her van!! :) Yesterday Michelle and I loaded up the kids and went to Morristown for the morning. The kids did great in the van together and enjoyed each others company...

...especially when they found some Cheerios to throw all over the floor! Owen had some cleaning up to do before we headed into Hobby Lobby!  



We ate lunch at Zaxbys before heading home. 

 The little kids did great on the trip also!  I think they look so cute sitting next to each other with their matching hair eating lunch! :) I feel so sorry for the other people you see in this picture.  They thought they were going to enjoy a nice quiet lunch until they saw us dragging in four kids. Ha!

9 Months Old (and a few pics of little man!)

Grace Ann is 9 months old! I can't believe we will be celebrating her first birthday in less than 3 months! I have already started thinking about her birthday party and making the invitations! :) I'm so excited to start planning!!

 This is a dress that my mom made for me when I was a baby!  I just love her in pink!! :) She LOVES standing up on everything and she is much happier that way! If only I could leave her standing while I got some things done around the house.

 I caught the little man taking change from my wallet to put in his train this week!

 He is in love with "The Lion King"!! He wants to watch it everyday and knows most of the characters names! I found these really cool animals in the dollar section at Wal-Mart the other day and he has played, slept, and bathed with them ever since!! The lion is in isolation at the moment because he keeps "ROOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRing" at Grace Ann and scaring her to death.  Hopefully he will get out soon! :)

Pruitt Playschool (Letter H)

After taking a few weeks off over Christmas, we started back with the letter "H" this week! It was nice to be back in somewhat of a routine after traveling so much over the holidays! Owen had a lot of fun this week with the letter "H"!

Our bible verse for the week:
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.   Hebrews 13:8

I introduced the letter "H" with my new favorite activity: Dot Paint!! :)

We went on a hunt for "H's" in a container of dried beans! Owen loves using the tongs to find random stuff in the beans!

Grace Ann LOVES watching her big brother do anything!

Justin was able to snap a picture of us doing an activity sorting candy hearts! Owen wanted to eat the hearts instead of sort them! You can tell in this picture that he really wanted to eat them instead of sorting them by colors! We did let him eat them after he ate supper!

Another candy heart activity! This time we made a graph of the candy hearts. Once Owen discovered that the candy hearts really tasted like chalk, he was not interested in eating them and could concentrate better on the activity! :)

Sweet girl playing in Owen's room during "school"!

Justin didn't have class on Friday because of the snow so Owen got to spend some time with his daddy! After they came in from playing in the snow, they enjoyed some hot chocolate! Cheers! :)

We got an ipad for Christmas!!! I love playing with my new toy...and so does Owen! :) He LOVES the ipad! I have download some educational apps that we use during our "school". The ones we used this week were Starfall, and ABC's of God.

Owen also got Leap Frog Fridge Phonics for Christmas. He has really enjoyed trying out all the different letters when he walks by the fridge.

Mimi got Owen his own white board to play with.  Justin has several white boards that he writes on when he studies and Owen has always enjoyed writing on his so now he has his own to play with. I wrote down several letters and had him circle all of the "H's".  He found all of them and circled them by himself!

We traced our hands! After I traced each hand he wanted me to trace his elbows...not sure why.  So if you notice something funny on the picture of his hands, it's his elbows. :)

Attempting to color a picture of a house.  He is not too interested in coloring these days but we both enjoyed watching Grace Ann try to eat the crayons! She LOVES standing up holding onto things!

Our bulletin board with some of the activities we did for the letter "H" this week!