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Busy Bags & Quiet Time Activities — for 31 Days

09/28/2012

Busy Bags & Quiet Time Activities to Help Your Toddler, Preschooler & Young Child Play & Learn Independently

Why are we talking about Busy Bags & Quiet Time?

Just like you, sometimes we need to be able to get a few things done during the day without “help.”If you’re a parent or care for young children, then you’re probably pretty busy. We sure are. And even when we cut down on outside obligations, the simple tasks of running our home and caring for our family fill our days.
We’ve found that Busy Bags and establishing an afternoon Quiet Time have been really helpful for our family. So much so, in fact, that we’re spending the entire month of October sharing a 31 day series titled, “Busy Bags & Quiet Time Activities.”

So, what are Busy Bags & Quiet Time Activities?

Busy Bag: a simple, age appropriate activity that can be pulled out, easily assembled and completed by your child.

These are perfect for when you need a few uninterrupted minutes but don’t want to let your little one veg in front of the television.

Quiet Time Activity: generally geared towards older toddlers, preschoolers, or early elementary aged kids who have given up napping.

Establishing a quiet time of independent play gives the child a little down time and the parent a little uninterrupted time as well. Even if you work away from home throughout the week, setting up an afternoon quiet time on the weekends can be a sanity saver.

That’s right, a full month of ideas to help your babies, toddlers, preschoolers, and young elementary aged children play and learn with quiet and independent activities.

Butterfly Symmetry Busy Bag

What you can expect during this month long series?

Lots of free busy bag printables!

We’ll show you how to make at least 20 different inexpensive and fun busy bags.

We’ll also show you how we use a daily quiet time for our 4 and 5 year old.

As a bonus, we even have a couple baby approved activities ready to share.

We’ll also highlight great busy bag and quiet time ideas from other moms around the web.

Finally, on October 31st, we’ll host a busy bag and quiet time activities link up so you can show off the activities you’ve made!

Free Printables

We’re so excited to share with you our busy bag printables. These files will make putting together your own busy bags very easy. We have 16 individual Busy Bag downloads that we’ll be offering for free. Yes, FREE! The links to these downloads will be included in the posts that highlight the particular busy bags.

However, if you prefer one download or you don’t want to have to wait to get access to the links, you can purchase one easy download from our Teachers Pay Teachers store for only $5.

Busy Bag Bundle for Sale...only $3!

Be sure to come back tomorrow for our first installment of Quiet Time Tuesday where we’ll share our own quiet time experience and how we provide independent activities for our 4-year-old and 5-year-old. Remember you can sign up for free emails so you won’t miss any of our busy bags or quiet time posts.

Today’s Question: Have you ever heard of or used busy bags or quiet time activities? We’d love to hear your thoughts on our upcoming series.

31 Days of Busy Bags & Quiet Time Activities @ AllOurDays.com

Next in Series: 3 Ways to Store Busy Bags

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Filed Under: Homeschool 27 Comments

Comments

  1. Alejandra says

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    I’m very interested in your ideas. I first saw you on Pinterest.

    Reply
  2. Tulip says

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    These are great ideas for stations too! Great printables and I can’t believe they are free. Thanks for sharing at Mom’s Library!

    Reply
    • Tulip says

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      Featuring you this week!

      Reply
      • Allyson @ All Our Days says

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        Thanks for spreading the word 🙂

        Reply
  3. Rachel @ Once Upon a Sewing Machine says

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    Oh I’m pumped for this! So glad I found you!

    Reply
    • Allyson says

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      I’m so glad you found us, too 🙂 Catch up on what you’ve missed so far here.

      Reply
  4. Christina Morley says

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    I think I lost my comment, so here it goes again… I haven’t heard of busy bags before. I think this is a fantastic idea! I found this post through True Aim’s Library hop, but I’ve been to your great blog on a previous visit. I have a 4-year-old daughter and 3 big kids.

    Tina

    Reply
    • Allyson says

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      You can do so many different independent activities with a four year old. Our son just turned four and he loves playing with the busy bags we’ll be sharing this month!

      Reply
  5. Empowered Momma J says

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    I really enjoy doing DIY crafts with our son. Now I’m going to have a huge series of things to do thanks to you.

    Reply
  6. Shonda says

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    I need busy bag ideas! I have a 3 year old and 1 year old. They need to be busy and quiet at times! Thanks for doing this series.

    Reply
    • Allyson says

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      We’ll definitely give you lots of ideas this month 🙂

      Reply
  7. Jenni Mullinix says

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    SO excited about this series! I will be using the ideas for quiet play during church. 🙂

    Reply
    • Allyson says

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      Busy bags are great for any time you need your child to play independently and quietly. Stay tuned for lots of great activity ideas…

      Reply
  8. Cheryl says

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    A new blog name…a new series…you are on a roll, Allyson! I am fascinated by your topic. My own kids are beyond the Busy Bag stage, but I am wondering if a few of these ideas would help a Gran from time to time. 😉

    Thanks for stopping by Thinking About Home and leaving your thoughtful words. Hospitality is certainly a challenge in a small home and with very young children, but who and how we “entertain” changes often with different seasons of life.

    Reply
    • Allyson says

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      I think some of these activities could definitely help a Gran out 🙂

      Thanks for your encouragement to practice hospitality in all circumstances.

      Reply
  9. Jillian Kay says

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    Yes! We love busy bags & have taken part in a swap before. I look forward t your series.

    Reply
    • Allyson says

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      I would love to participate in a swap sometime, but at this point that would mean organizing it myself and I just don’t think I’m up for that challenge 🙂

      Reply
  10. sisters playing house says

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    I’m excited for this – we have 9 kids between my sister and I and between doctors appointments, church, and much needed quiet times there are many instances where busy bags and quiet times activities are needed. It will be great to see some new ideas.
    We are doing 31 days of Homemade Pantry
    http://sistersplayinghouse.blogspot.com/2012/10/31-days-2012.html

    Reply
    • Allyson says

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      With 9 kids between the two of you, I’m sure that busy bags and quiet time activities could come in handy 🙂

      I’m looking forward to your Homemade Pantry Series since with do make (almost) everything from scratch.

      Reply
  11. Mollie says

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    I haven’t heard of busy bags but I can’t wait to see your posts!

    Reply
    • Allyson says

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      Mollie, how old are your children? We use busy bags for our three older kids (5, 4 and 2) and they work wonderfully. Some of the activities could definitely be for older children as well.

      Reply
  12. Jenna says

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    Oh, oh, oh! Imagine me jumping up and down with delight! My oldest has a quiet time {we call it room time} while my two little ones nap, which has been a sanity saver for me. Can’t wait to hear more! And, the busy bags? Soooo excited! I have a sweet {almost} 2 year old who is ..um.. making homeschooling interesting. 🙂 I know I need to give her some things to keep her busy… Can’t wait to read more!

    Reply
    • Allyson says

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      Toddlers sure do make homeschooling interesting. Our busy bags have really helped by giving the little ones activities they can do by themselves while feeling like they are doing school like the big kids.

      Make sure you come back by tomorrow for our first installment of Quite Time Tuesday.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Weekend Reading: October 6, 2012 says:
    at

    […] 31 Days of Busy Bags and Quiet Time Ideas | All Our Days […]

    Reply
  2. Anyone Craving A Little Quiet Time? | Chicagoland Moms Blog says:
    at

    […] mom from the “All Our Days” blog describes it as a “sanity saver”: Establishing a quiet time of independent play gives the […]

    Reply
  3. Weekend Reading: October 6, 2012 | Life Your Way says:
    at

    […] 31 Days of Busy Bags and Quiet Time Ideas | All Our Days […]

    Reply
  4. 31 Days of Randomness- Personal Inspiration 5 – reconnecting | rfljenksy – Practicing Simplicity says:
    at

    […]  64. Busy Bags & Quiet Time Series […]

    Reply

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