I love busy bags to provide a quick activity for the kids. In our house I often use busy bags as transition activities between one set of activities and another.
Busy bags are also super for when you just want to chop some vegetables for dinner without being bugged by little kids that want you to play dolls, help build the next lego creation or have a tea party. (don’t get me wrong doing such things is awesome, but a time and place for everything!)
These next 10 busy bags are super easy to make yourself and are great to just pull out at any time.
Most of these ideas are perfect for toddler and preschool age. Some children are able to complete bags super fast (which means it time to move to another) and others will find a challenge (which is awesome!) The main idea behind a busy bag is to engage independently. I however use these within distance of me seeing what they are doing to avoid kids breaking or loosing parts or for that matter fighting over the items!
Here is my quick video of the busy bags in USE!
I love to shoot demonstration videos of busy bag collections. As you can see my 3 year old is an avid helper!
I use these zipper bags. Pack of 5 / pack of 24 and these metal rings to keep them together.
OMURA Pencil Pouch (Neon)pack 6BAZIC Bright Color 3-Ring Pencil Pouch w/ Mesh Window – 24 Pack
S.P. Richards Company Book Ring, 1 1/2-Inch Diameter, 100 per Box, Silver (SPR01438)
Get all your free busy bag templates here:
Simply click on the NAME of the busy bag of your choice to be taken to the full instructions and download area for any busy bag templates needed.
Foam Lacing Shapes
Easy Shape & Pattern Activity
Shapes, Counting and Colors
Counting Caterpillar 1-20
P is for Paperclip
Velcro Dot Craft Sticks
Match & Count Number Cards 1-10
Tiny Pom Pom Fine Motor Skills
1-20 Counting and Tracing Numbers
Hat Matching Printable Cards
Meera says
Hi Nicolette,
I loved all your busy bags .They are super easy and great for toddlers . I am making one for my two and half year old. Thanks for all the ideas .
Khadija says
Lovely ideas thank you so much
Kelsey May says
Great activity! I’m adding the zipper pouch idea to my fall STEM activities curriculum. 🙂
Alta Stead says
Wonderfull ideas! Just make sure about number formation for your school. Do not confuse your child by learning different formation than what his school requires
Stephanie Schacht says
I love these busy bags! I will be busy making them this summer. I teach kindergarten and this is right up their alley.
Thank you for sharing!
Maeve says
I just made these for my kindergarten-aged child, who is very into sensory play and loves small manipulatives. I walked in the door yesterday with the velcro sticks in my hand, and my children asked me to watch TV (UGH!! Fighting screen battles right now…). I said, “hey, I just made this for you,” and handed them the velcro sticks. Both my children played with them for an hour, and forgot all about TV :). Thank you for this resource! I’m looking forward to using your ideas more as I work on building more hans-on and sensory activities into our routine. I put all the bags into a binder, and I’m hoping my spouse will remember to bring one out while I am at a work meeting today. He was pretty impressed with the instant engagement last night.
Nicolette Roux says
You are most welcome!! I love hearing how kids use the ideas I use for my own kids 🙂
Lu says
I’m addicted to your site!
Dana says
Hi Nicolette! These busy bags would be great for entertaining an older child while putting the younger one to bed.
Kati says
What age group are these appropriate for?
Nicolette Roux says
starting at 2 and half with those pom pom with and counting numbers through to age 5, Those are the ages my children were at when I made these. (always supervise the younger kids with smaller parts!)
Lynn Crouch says
These would work in nursing homes as well as Alzheimer’s units. They like to sort and arrange , do arts and crafts.
Jenn says
Those bags are great! Do you have ideas for older kids…6-10 year-olds?
Nicolette Roux says
Not at this moment. I do have a few ideas pending as my oldest turns 7 this month and needs new things 😉
Chris says
Hi Nicole, love your ideas for busy bags. Can I ask where you buy your zippered bags from that you use to store each activity? I love that you can see through the mesh side and that it has rings to join the bags together.
Nicolette Roux says
Thank you! I updated the post to include links to the ones I use. I get them off amazon.