Activity Bag Swap

One of my mom friends, Maia, threw an activity bag swap. Our group had 20 moms participating in it. Maia used a book that gave instructions on how to make different activity bags and for our group, the activities were about ages 3-5. Each participant gets a set of instructions on how to make their bags. I was in charge of the Alpha-Beads activity bags which taught kids letter formation. The kids pick a letter card then lay one or two strings of beads on the lines to form the letter. To make the bag, I had to cut out 26 letter cards and made two strings of beads. I had to do this for 20 activity bags and label them with the instructions on the front. This sounds easy enough except it took Andy and I four hours to complete 20 bags. That’s what I get for being a procrastinator. I did the stringing and tying and he did the letter cutting.

All the moms met at a park and Maia had 20 numbered bags laid out on the grass and each mom placed their activity into the bags. Then, Maia called out our names and gave us numbers and we took our bags home.

There are some simple games such as this:

There were some wacky ones like this activity bag in which he has to use tongs to sort the colored pom poms. He said he was returning the chicks back to their homes.

There are a few activities that are too hard for him because they involve cutting but I like how the rest can be slightly adjusted for each child’s level. For example, he likes this bead matching activity bag with 6 small pipe cleaners with a bead glued on the top of each pipe cleaner. For him, doing two at a time is a good number and for kids that are older, they can do more.

I call them “games” and Sean loves doing them. Even though it took us a long time to make the bags, that time has already been made up by the multiple times he has used the bags. If you want more info on activity bag swaps and the book that Maia used, check out this site.