Activity Bags for Preschoolers

The idea behind this concept is to come up with a simple activity and put all the pieces necessary in its own ziploc bag (the kind with the zipper on top, not the kind you have to press together) so a child can pull out a bag and have all the necessary components for that activity in one place. Keep all the bags in a box in an easily accessible area. When your child wants something to do, pull one of the activity bags out of the box. More ideas for activities can be easily found by searching the internet.

Other options: keep some activity bags in a “to go” bag. We keep a bag ready to go for church or other events where I know I will want my daughter to be quietly occupied. In her church bag I keep an assortment of the ideas from below, a few small stuffed animals, a sippy cup of water, and a snack. Once in a while I will swap out the activities in her church bag for other activities. I also have a few of the activity bags in her room that she is allowed to use during her quiet time.

1. Pattern Beads –
a. Materials needed: pipe cleaners, pony beads in assorted colors, hot glue gun
b. Put together the bag: Put beads on a pipe cleaner, following a specific pattern (ex: red, blue, green, red, blue green) and glue the beads on each end to keep them in place. Provide the child with another pipe cleaner and enough beads to complete the same pattern.
c. Objective: Show the child how to follow a pattern.
d. Another option: Don’t glue on the beads, just let the child string the beads as he wants.

2. Yarn art –
a. Materials needed: different lengths of yarn in assorted colors, a large piece of sandpaper (attached to a piece of cardboard for more stability)
b. Put together the bag: Put all the supplies in a bag.
c. Objective: Show the child how to make pictures and patterns on the sandpaper with the yarn.

3. Silly faces –
a. Materials needed: assorted colors of felt, yarn, googly eyes, Velcro dots
b. Put together the bag: Make a few head shapes from felt. From the other colors make eyes, ears, noses, mouths, hair, moustaches, etc. Use the yarn to make more hair. Attach Velcro dots to the backs of the googly eyes.
c. Objective: Let the child make silly faces from the materials provided.

4. Counting cups –
a. Materials needed: small objects to count (pennies, beans, pom poms), permanent marker, small clear plastic cups
b. Put together the bag: On each plastic cup make a series of dots (on one cup put one dot, on another put two, on another put three, etc.). Provide as many objects to count as necessary to fill all the cups.
c. Objective: Show the child how to put the objects in the cups according to how many dots are on the cup.

 
5. Pasta sort –
a. Materials needed: small pasta (elbows or bow ties), food coloring, rubbing alcohol, small clear plastic cups
b. Put together the bag: For each color of pasta – put ½ cup rubbing alcohol in a small container. Add food coloring and stir. Put in some pasta and mix. When the pasta has absorbed as much color as you want it to, pull it out with a slotted spoon and let it dry.
c. Objective: Have the child separate the pasta by color.
d. Another option: Buy colored paper clips and have your child sort those.

6. Sewing –
a. Materials needed: small squares or rectangles of plastic canvas, shoe laces
b. Put together the bag: Put the items in a bag for storage.
c. Objective: Show child how to thread the lace through the holes in the plastic canvas.

7. Shape matching –
a. Materials needed: small shapes cut from sheets of foam, index cards, marker
b. Put together the bag: Trace each shape onto an index card and put the shapes and cards in a bag.
c. Objective: Show the child how to match the shape to its outline.
d. Another option: If you find foam letters or numbers, this works with them as well.

8. Stained-Glass art –
a. Materials needed: glue stick, small rectangles of waxed paper (as small as index card size or as large as a half-sheet of paper ), small squares of tissue paper (1”x1”) in various colors.
b. Put together the bag: Put all the supplies in a bag.
c. Objective: Show the child how to use the glue stick to glue the pieces of tissue paper. When he has completed one, tape it to a sunny window.

9. Coloring –
a. Materials needed: coloring book and crayons
b. Put together the bag: Put all supplies in a bag.
c. Objective: Coloring!

10. Play-dough letters and numbers –
a. Materials needed: index cards, clear contact paper, marker, container of play dough
b. Put together the bag: Write a letter of the alphabet or a number on each index card. Cover each index card with clear contact paper. Put these cards, along with the play dough in a bag.
c. Objective: Show the child how to roll out “snakes” with the play dough. Use these to make the letter or number shapes on the cards.

11. Magnet letters
a. Materials needed: small cookie sheet (the kind that goes in a toaster oven), magnet letters and numbers
b. Put together the bag: Put the letters on the cookie sheet and then in a bag.
c. Objective: Let the child make words, practice his letter sounds, etc.

12. Chalkboard
a. Materials needed: small chalkboard, chalk, eraser
b. Put together the bag: Put all supplies in a bag.
c. Objective: Let the child write on the chalkboard.

13. Books on tape
a. Materials needed: cassette tape, favourite book, recordable cassette player
b. Put together the bag: record your voice reading the book onto the cassette.
c. Objective: Let the child listen to you reading his favourite book

14. Boredom bag
a. Materials needed: index cards, pen
b. Put together the bag: write out chores, things for child to do on the index cards (some ideas: dust the furniture; help make lunch; sweep the floor)
c. Objective: The child gets to pick something out of the bag when he complains that he is bored.

15. Rice bowl
a. Materials needed: measuring cups or spoons, rice, small bowls
b. Put together the bag: put the rice in a small Ziploc bag put all the materials in one bag.
c. Objective: Show the child how to pour and measure.

16. Number match
a. Materials needed: small stickers, index cards, pen
b. Put together the bag: on one set of index cards write the numbers 1 through 10 on individual cards. On the other set put stickers to correspond with each numbered card.
c. Objective: Have the child match the number card to the with the appropriate sticker card.

17. Tick Tock Clock
a. Materials needed: paper plate, paper fastener, construction paper, index cards, marker, scissors
b. Put together the bag: Make a clock – write the numbers on the paper plate for the clock face. Make a minute hand and an hour hand from construction paper and fasten to the paper plate with the paper fastener. On the index cards draw clocks with different times and write the time underneath each clock.
c. Objective: Show the child how to match the paper plate clock to the times on the index cards.