Welcome back to the Busy Bags Blog hop, a monthly themed blog hop to bring you fun, easy ideas to keep kids busy. Today it is all about Rainbow Activities!
Busy bags are meant to be simple activities you can put together into bags or boxes and just grab one when your child could use something to keep him or her busy…hence the name- Busy Bags!
This month since St. Patrick's Day is around the corner we chose to create busy bags with a Rainbow theme! And look how vibrant and happy they all came out!
My contribution for the blog hop was fittingly a super simple one: Rainbow Bubble wrap! Now, I KNOW what some of you may be thinking when you read through this post. “Ah! You crazy person! My kids will die around bubble wrap,” or, “You must be eeevil! My kids will draw all over everything if I give them permanent markers!”
My answer: Know your kids and supervise them as needed with ANY activity and ANY material. My 4.5 year old daughter could have been trusted with this activity a year ago, easily. I don't know if the same will be true of my son, he is much more mischievous. You'll know if your kids are ready, and maybe it is something that a younger child can do at the table while an older child does homework.
My 4.5 year old loved completing the pattern and was quite quietly busy with her bubble wrap for some time. I did a long strip of this myself and I found the small, intricate motions to be kind of calming and mesmerizing. We both did!
Filling in the bubbles takes concentration and a careful hand but was not difficult for my preschooler to tackle.
We did this activity while my 2.5 year old was sleeping so the marker had dried for a while when we showed it to him. They both loved popping the bubbles of course, and it turned into a fantastically fun color activity for my son.
Some of the bubbles popped easier than others so every time he got one to pop he would giggle and say, “IIII popped the GREEEN one!!!!”
I actually love how it turned from an activity to keep my preschooler busy into one that she made that kept my toddler busy!
Rainbow Bubble Wrap Busy Bag
(Affiliate links are included for your convenience.)
Bubble wrap
Sharpie markers in Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet (we only had one blue for ours, that is up to you)
Scissors
Zipper bags for storage (mine are from Staples but I cannot find them on their website.)
Instructions:
Cut a long strip of bubble wrap 6-7 bubbles wide (again, we only had one blue/indigo sharpie, so ours is only 6 but if you have a light blue and dark blue, cut 7).
Use the sharpie markers to color the first bubble of each row in the ROY G BIV order.
Place the markers and the strip of bubble wrap into the zipper bag.
Ways to Play:
-Your child can complete the pattern along all the bubbles. Hang it in the window as a rainbow suncatcher!
-Once the marker is dry, your child can pop the bubbles, you can go in rainbow order to reinforce the color order. (Be sure to wait until it is dry. Both my kids popped the bubbles and got some colors onto their fingers but it didn't stain when it had already dried.)
DIY & Store Bought Rainbow Activities
DIY ACTIVITIES FROM LEFT TO RIGHT:
Click the links below to go to a full tutorial for each activity:
Rainbow Color and Shape Learning Puzzles // Itsy Bitsy Fun
Magnetic Rainbow Name Box // Mama. Papa. Bubba.
Rainbow Sight Word Lacing // Preschool Inspirations
Shape Lacing // The Pleasantest Thing
Rainbow Puzzle // Mommy Needs a Coffee Break
Rainbow Popsicle Stick Patterns // Playdough to Plato
Rainbow Color and Shape Match // Frogs Snails and Puppy Dog Tails
Clothespin Rainbow // Adventures of Adam
Quick and Easy Rainbow Busy Bag // The Educators' Spin on It
Sort and Count Rainbow Puzzle // Powerful Mothering
Rainbow Prism Busy Bag // Left Brain Craft Brain
Rainbow Bubble Wrap Busy Bag // Lalymom
Rainbow Color Sort // Sugar Aunts
Weaving Rainbows // Best Toys for Toddlers
Toddler 4 – in – 1 Rainbow Busy Box // Lemon Lime Adventures
Rainbow Color Sorting Busy Bag // Coffee Cups and Crayons
Pipe Cleaner Rainbow Busy Bag // Still Playing School
STORE BOUGHT ACTIVITIES FROM LEFT TO RIGHT:
Click the links below to see full product details on Amazon.
Grimm's Mini Nesting Rainbow Blocks
Learning Resources Sorting Rainbow Crayons
Learning Resources Color Cones Game
Sew Cute Learn to Sew Rainbow Needlepoint Kit
Magic School Bus Mysteries of Rainbows Kit
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