A few times a week while my daughter sleeps, my son asks to do his ‘special games.’ Some might call them quiet boxes or activity bags. I keep a plastic tub on a high shelf and we make a production of getting it down, choosing a few activities that I have ready in zippered bags, and getting settled on the floor to have a look.
Yesterday he chose these 3 bags:
Colour Wheel Peg Match – simply cut a circle of cardboard, divide it into sections with a ruler and a marker, a draw coloured dots on the wheel and on wooden pegs, so that Small Fry can peg the pegs with their coloured dots onto the wheel section with the matching colour.
Colour Matching Paperclips – lay out paint chips in bright colours, and place paperclips of the matching colour onto each one (to set this up I bought the paperclips in bright colours first, and then got the paint chips that matched afterwards).
Number Matching – finding the right number for each card and placing it in the correct spot. Draw the number of dots on the card, and trace an outline of the number for them to place plastic or wooden numbers on. I used cheap magnets for this, and after we finish with the cards we put them on the fridge in the right order.
All 3 activities cost probably $5 to make, using cheap numbers, paperclips and wooden pegs from the $2 shop, free paint chips from the hardware, and about 15 minutes of my time.
So good for keeping him busy, and quiet (!) so his sister can have a good sleep. And he loves showing mum how clever he is in our one-on-one moments together. Happy heart 🙂
February 18, 2018 at 4:43 am
Bravo! I think you are terrific for coming up with these easy, economical and engaging activities. The little man is learning, and bonding with you. Can’t wait to see what’s in the other bags!
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February 18, 2018 at 9:06 am
Thanks! He loves to work out new things.. so that keeps me busy trying to stay ahead of him!
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February 18, 2018 at 9:11 am
You’re most welcome! 🙂
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February 18, 2018 at 6:14 am
Love these! How old is your son- trying to see if these ideas would be too hard or easy for my toddler?
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February 18, 2018 at 9:02 am
Hiya.. he is almost 3 now but the main one is the pegs.. he was probably about 2 when he mastered those. He’s not 100 percent on the colours but he likes matching things up. 🙂 Sometimes I make a bag and he finds it too hard, so I just leave it at the bottom of the box for another couple of months and then try again haha. Hope that helps! 🙂
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February 19, 2018 at 6:08 am
Thanks!
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February 18, 2018 at 9:03 am
Good idea though.. I should put an age guide on the activities..
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March 2, 2018 at 10:28 am
Would love to hear more ideas like this ! Also wondering how old your son was when you started these, Minnie will be 3 end of July and knows her colours but not sure if she’d sit for these activities… Keen to try them out though! Thanks for liking my post 🙂 much appreciated !
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March 12, 2018 at 9:29 am
Hiya – My son is 3 in April so they are pretty close in age! I love these activities too. I’m always trying to come up with new things as he really likes a challenge. He’s not perfect on his colours by a long shot (we’re still not sure if he’s colourblind like Daddy or not!) But all of these are good for simply matching the shapes and colours, even if you don’t know the word for them. He doesn’t know what most of the numbers are, for example, but we count the dots together and then find the outline that looks like the shape he is holding. 🙂
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March 12, 2018 at 10:39 am
Thanks! Hope to try these ideas soon! 🙂
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March 3, 2018 at 2:52 pm
Thank you for posting this. It’s so nice to see what other moms come up with as far kid activities and ideas. This is a great idea!
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March 12, 2018 at 9:34 am
Thanks! I love finding easy to make activities – I google ‘free printables’ regularly haha. Maybe I can share some of the good ones of those i have found too! print and use, that’s my style. not buying a new toy every five minutes! (although I must admit I’m very guilty of bringing home more from the secondhand shop than I took there.. lol. hmm….)
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