Do you ever ran out of ideas sometimes to engage with your Little tot at home ? I do and those days that I really needed an hour or so to work oo pay bills or just to even take a breather, these BUSY BOXES had been a life saver.
We purchased these plastic containers
at home depot long ago , and it is just the perfect size for putting games and activities. You can make a weekly theme or everyday theme on each boxes. I will be su8ggesting some fun themes that you can use.
The first time that I prepared these busy boxes for Lily, I made it as simple as possible.
Monday- a couple of nursery rhyme books , bingo daubers , a bingo dauber printable and pom poms for counting or you can give your child an empty egg carton or a muffin tin and let them separate the pom poms per color.
Tuesday - set of stamp markers , play dough, kid safe scissors
, play dough accessories 
and a couple of picture books.See here for : Homemade Playdough
Wednesday- finger or hand puppets
, foam shape blocks 
, Baby's first coloring book , small pack of crayons and a touch and feel book.Thursday - Lacing activity
, counting flashcards
and a couple of books.See here for : DIY Lacing Set
Friday - felt animals , bag of beans--> yep just a bag of beans and some scooper, measuring cups and a couple of alphabet books.
You can even just put wooden blocks on one busy box..they can stack it..build simple words.
Here's a few ideas for themes. Print it here : BUSY BOX THEMES PRINTABLE
If you are still not sure of what to include in your busy boxes, here's a few ideas and inspiration:
For the All About me busy box, you can print a blank face printable
For this all about me flower printable , if your lil one does not know how to write yet..you can fill in the spaces. You can cut out family pictures, their favorite colors and you can let them paste it on the paper, or let them color the whole flower. Get the All about me printable here
You can also include their favorite book in the box , or an album to recognize family faces.
For the Make and Share theme , gather some craft supplies like pipe cleaners
, beads,
craft foams, paints. Let them make a bracelet or any artwork . It is make and share, so we can give it to family or their daddy..or grandma.
- apple theme from Lalymom.com
- Under the Sea theme from Stay at Home Educator
- Bugs and Critters from The Measured Mom
- Spring theme from Buggy and Buddy
- Zoo theme from Pre K pages
- Robot theme from Under Gods Mighty Hands
- Bible theme from Bible Printables
Be creative. Use what you have in your home. It doesn't have to cost you an arm and a leg. Go through those catch all basket that you have, sometimes it's amazing how they can forget a small toy and they get excited when they see it again. It's like new all over again for them.
Here's the free labels for your busy box containers.
Print it here : BUSY BOX LABELS
Here's the free labels for your busy box containers.
Print it here : BUSY BOX LABELS
Don't forget to pin and share!!
8 Good Books that Teaches Feelings and Emotions
Top 6 Childrens Book by Eric Carle
These are great! Pinning this for about a year down the road hehe
ReplyDeleteAwesome! Thank you so much for stopping by..
DeleteI love the idea of boxes for each day. I'd need to adjust things a bit to be safe to use on a bed (for use during rest time) but such a great idea. I'm always looking for more creative ideas than just the books and magnet sets we use now. :)
ReplyDelete(visiting from A Little R & R Wednesdays)
Hi Julie, thank you for stopping by!
DeleteThat is actually a really good idea, I am going to get boxes for the kids at home and will tag the activities with days. Thank you for sharing such a wonderful idea with us
ReplyDelete