Saturday, July 30, 2011

Busy Bags and a Chance to Win.

Well I have crossed the 100 post mark. So now for a give away.  Yeah!

This magazine is a fabulous resource for finding ideas for kids.  I think it is absolutely great.  If you win I will send you a copy of the "Mailbox". Its pages and pages of ideas and things to do with your kids.  This would be great if you have kids, grand-kids, teach, or a gift for someone who does have kids.


--------------------------------------NOW CLOSED------------------------------------

Want to win?
RULES:

Entry for Giveaway:
Leave a comment below telling me what you do to entertain kids.

also: 

Additional Optional Entries:
Follow Mommy's Monkeys by email (on the side bar), and let me know you have joined up in a comment.
Blog about this giveaway, with a link the post back to me, and make sure to let me know you have done this in a comment. 

The give away will be open until midnight PST Thursday August 4th, 2011
Make sure to leave a separate comment for each entry, winner will be chosen at random!
This giveaway is offered Worldwide.


I made a bunch of "busy bags" for Hannah and Ethan.  Simply put, a busy bag is a small self contained activity that I can pull out when I need to occupy them.  The driving force behind my busy bags is Family Camp, which we will be attending soon.  The kids need to be busy doing something so that I can enjoy camp.  But beyond that I can use the activities to occupy them at the doctors, or even when I'm making dinner.  So without further ado here are my busy bags:

Note:  I did my best to link where I found the idea if it was not my own.

Mini chalkboard and chalk.

Finger puppets.

Puzzles

Eye Spy bottle.  This is a bottle of rice and small object to search  and find.

Playdough and Golf Tees.

Push the Q-tips through the honey bears cap.  (Ethan and Hannah like doing this).

Glue the shapes into the shape book (Hannah loves gluing)

Brown Bear Brown Bear Story Animals.

Popsicle Stick Puzzles

Stacking Cups

Bear counters can be used to practice sorting onto the appropriate colored card. 
 (These cards are from Home Depot)

Alphabet letters, and bendy sticks.  The letters are just for playing with and practicing letter recognition.
 The bendy sticks (wikki sticks are the name brand version) stick together and you can make things with them

Hungry Caterpillar Story Shapes

Stickers and paper.

Foam Stickers and colored paper.

A magnetic book from the dollar store.

Pasta to string on to pipe cleaners.

Button Snake, practice pushing the button through the hole in the felt pieces.
How do I store all the little bags?  Well, I threw them in a tote and now I can grab it when we go out, or grab an activity at home.






26 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would love to win this thanks.
Sarah K

Anonymous said...

I like to give my kids jar lids, entertains them forever. I would love to win.
Denise

Three Girls with a Mom said...

We play I Spy a lot when we are in line or waiting for something. When I need to entertain my daughter without me she loves playing with little dolls and making up stories or reading books. cmessner@myuw.net

Three Girls with a Mom said...

I am a new follower.

Three Girls with a Mom said...

I posted on my FB page and the sidebar of my blog. http://martimessnerfamily.blogspot.com

Jen Guitard said...

I think I need to win this because I do not do anything nearly as cool as you. I just let him explore new places with me close behind and avoid taking him places where he has to sit still for too long. He loves playing peekaboo though and singing songs which helps if in a bind, oh and of course eating.

Lilac said...

Thanks for your blog and this opportunity to win. My toddlers entertain themselves for hours with measuring cups, containers of various shapes, plastic spoons, and pom-poms.

Susannah said...

Hi Kristina... Susannah from April 2009. Clearly I need this magazine because I have nothing as exciting as your busy bags! I like using construction paper that Anna's drawn on to make paper crowns. Makes me feel better about using it again before recycling!
Yay for your blog!
Susannah
susie_vandamme@hotmail.com

Lindsay said...

You have such cool ideas!
I have a 2 & 4 year old and they love playing catch with a big beach ball, chasing each other around the house and reading books with each other and me.
I'd love to win this!

Courtney said...

I'm from April 2009 too. At our house we do tons of baking, Lego, scrapbooking, puzzles, and of course reading.

Susan said...

Hey - I'm also from the April 2009. Love your blog - I will definitely be 'borrowing' some ideas from you busy bags. We keep busy with puzzles, lacing beads, painting, drawing, and pretend play with Emily's kitchen. I'd love to win the magazine - I'm always looking for new ideas. I have also subscribed to your blog. Great work.
Susan

Jenny said...

Does TV count as entertainment? How about cookies? No? Lots of bike riding and digging in the sand box is how wev've spent our sumemr and spending endless hours at the wading pool. I could obviously use the prize!!! Come winter I'm toast....

Shelley said...

What a great idea! I am from from April2009, and would love this! Wish I had seen this post last year when we took the boys on their first plane ride. Will definitely be taking some of your ideas and using them!!

L said...

With the warm summer weather, it seems all I need to entertain my toddler is a garden hose with a slow stream of water!

Kelly said...

I love your busy bags idea! I'm totally stealing that!

With 2 young ones, both high needs kiddos I don't have much time to sit down with my 2 year old and do crafty stuff, unfortunately. I go to the old stand-bys, colouring, play-doh, playing outside, sandbox, blocks, making forts, that kind of thing. I really hope to have things together more once they are both at an age where they'll enjoy more structured play time.

Jen A said...

Another April 2009 momma! I will definately be stealing the busybags ideas. With 3 kids to entertain these will be a Godsend! Definately in need of winning since we don't do anything cool. Does helping mommy clean count? No ok, we play outside, go to playgroups and have friends over for playdates. We read a lot of books and take lots of bubble baths while we sing songs at the top of our lungs! Love the blog!

beamies said...

To keep my little one busy I like to take turns reading books. I read it first and then he reads it back with his own made up version.

beamies said...

What a great blog full of ideas. I have signed up for the email subscription so I don't miss a thing!!

Teresa said...

This should keep them busy all weekend. They are going to have so much fun. Make sure to post some pictures of them enjoying the busy bags.

=)

Samantha said...

I love The Mailbox! I teach K-2 and use it all the time for project ideas. I love your busy bags...I have heard of something similar that I plan to make when baby #2 comes in a few months--"quiet boxes". They are very special quiet activities that Ben will get to do when I'm nursing or trying to get the baby to sleep.

As far as entertaining Ben, we do lots of fingerplays, rhymes, and songs, he LOVES them and I find I can use a lot of the same ones that I use in my classroom :)

Julie (julees11) said...

Another April Mom! I love the busy bags. We have always have activity bags ready to go (or the kids pack them themselves). They put in some books and colouring, some dinky cars or polly pockets. I love the eye spy water bottle idea. May take that one for art class this year!
Julie

Amanda said...
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Amanda said...
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Lisa @ Our Country Road said...

Oh I am sorry I didnt come see these before! We left for our vacation right after I posted my bags. You have some adorable ideas! I love the puzzles and the bear color match!

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