Busy Bag Swap!!!

What is a busy bag swap, you ask???

Well for starters, a busy bag, is just a gallon sized bag with an activity for a child in it.  It can range from something as simple as pipe cleaners and beads to string on it, to an elaborate felt racetrack with cars and moving parts.

Here are two of mine that I did for a gift for a friend

If you have a kid, or even are around kids, you know they can get bored easily at times, ESPECIALLY with summer coming.  Instead of plopping them in front of the tv all the time, these bags can help to foster creativity, imagination, and even sneak in some actual learning!!!  The great thing about these, is that they can be used for quiet time when the child stops napping, or as a homeschool supplement, or on road trips, the uses are endless!  And some will be more simple than others, so you can add to them, or give those as a gift.  Be creative with the bags once you get them!

So we are each going to make these bags, and swap them with one another!  I did this once before around Christmas and it was a huge success.  I will give you the criteria that I found on THIS site that I think explains it better than I can (here a few more links to explain...HERE and HERE and HERE)

Each activity needs to meet the following criteria:

• Self-contained.  This way, you can just grab a bag and GO! (without having to add a number of supplies to the bag in order to make it useful.)

• Transportable.  Yes, they will definitely be used at home, but I want to be able to grab a few bags to take to a restaurant, a waiting room, plane trips, car rides, etc.

• Convenient.  None of the bags will have supplies that require major set-up or clean-up: (no paint, watercolors, liquids, sand, dirt, etc.)

• Inexpensive. I didn’t want anyone spending too much money on this project!

• Easy to Make: I didn’t want anyone spending hours and hours and hours making their activity (unless you really want to).
• Labeled with Instructions: We need an easy way to be able to see what the activity is and how to do the activity (I recommend a sticker label on the outside, but whatever works best for you)

To put it in the most basic terms, YOU are going to make 20 (or how ever many people sign up) bags that are exactly the same.  Then you will get them to me (mail them yourself if you live far away), and I will then give/send to you 19 other activities, and also back your own.  You will then have 20 activities to have for your child!!!  Isn't that the coolest?!?!

I am going to be a lot more strict about dates and such this time around, so please make sure that this is a commitment that you want to make and have time for.  The deadline for letting me know that you want to participate and what your activity is will be Friday, June 1st (although you may begin working on it sooner.)  I am capping the number at 20, so the first 19 people to email me-howdyqueen@yahoo.com, get a spot.  And once an activity is taken, I will email that out to the rest of the group so that we do not have duplicates.  The deadline to get me all of you bags will be Sunday, June 17th (I will be mailing them out that next morning to those of you who live far away.)

If you have questions, please email me.  Please invite friends to be a part of this as well, the more the merrier.  If you need ideas, there are TONS just by doing a Google search or on Pinterest.  Or you can even come up with your own!  Here are a few places to get you started if you need them...HERE, and HERE and HERE)

*IF you would like to receive bags, but do not have time to participate, I will make them for you, and charge you 25$ to do so (I bought some recently and it cost me 40$, so this is a really great deal!)  Let me know soon if that is something that you want, so that I can get an idea of how many extras I will need to make!

I am SO super excited to do this again, and I look forward to hearing from you :)