Today’s busy bag couldn’t get much simpler, but our three oldest kids ask for it a lot. It’s perfect practice for fine motor skills and visual discrimination (focusing on how items look different from one another–an important skill your child will need for learning numbers and letter).
Try this activity with your…
Just grab an empty egg carton and a bag of dried 15 bean soup. We geared this busy bag toward our toddler so we only used 6 types of beans and half of an egg carton. You could easily make this for an older child by included 12 different bean varieties and the entire egg carton, although you may still need to cut it in half to fit inside the zip-top bag.
Once you have the beans separated, just place them into the bag along with the egg carton. Give the bag to your toddler or preschooler and show them how to separate the beans each type into their own little holder. Once your child understands the concept they’ll easily be able to complete this activity on their own.
Updated 1/2020: All six of our kids have really enjoyed this activity. Kids seem to naturally want to sort items and this is such an easy and inexpensive way to encourage them to practice. You can also fill this busy bag with different color pom-poms, buttons, foam stickers (with the backing left on) or even different shapes of dried pasta. To make a fun, snack-time sorting activity include a handful of mixed nuts or trail mix.
Warning:
(This should not be used with or around babies or toddlers that put things into their mouth (or nose or ears)! Dried beans can be a choking hazard.)
Click the link below to download the free printable label.
Bean Sorting Busy Bag
What items do your children like to sort? Leave us a comment below.
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