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One of my co-op groups has a busy bag exchange on Monday for 4 and 5 year olds. I'm looking forward to trading busy bags and getting 6 different busy bags for my 4-year old. I hadn't made a busy bag since he was 2! While I was trying to go to sleep the other night, I was thinking about what I could make. Then it came to me, make a counting busy bag using beads and pipe cleaners, things I already had on hand.
This busy bag was extremely economical. I bought a bag of 300+ beads from Target for $0.50. I already had pipe cleaners and I created little bead flash cards on my computer and printed them on card stock. To store them, I put them in zip-lock bags.
Here's how to make a simple math busy bags. I only went up to 10. 5+5 was the highest number of beads to count. Children who can recognize numbers 1-10 can do this activity. You can add more beads and more cards and make it more challenging if you want. I added a few extra beads to these bead rings just in case someone lost some. Even though this was easy for my son, he seemed to enjoy it and it's good practice and will hopefully keep him busy and somewhat quiet at restaurants, doctor's appointments, and other places in public!
What you'll need:
10 beads, I used 2 different colors (5 of each)
1 pipe cleaner
card stock paper
zip-lock bag
First I created this template. When I cut out the addition cards, I put the answer on the back. Then I hole punched a corner of the flash cards, cut part of the pipe cleaner off and tied the cards to one pipe cleaner. I put the beads on the larger pipe cleaner and twisted the ends together to make a circle. I printed the instructions. Originally I was going to have them bead the pipe cleaner but then I thought by tying it in a circle the beads wouldn't get lost. Separate the beads. Have them count and move the number of beads on the card to the middle. Have them practice saying __ plus ___ equals ____. Then they can check their answer on the back of the card.
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| Here's one of the ones I did with the cards below |
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| Pipe cleaner with beads and addition cards |
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| 6 math busy activities ready for their bags |
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| They are packed and ready to keep kids busy |
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