More Activity Bags

I am always on the lookout for new ideas for activity bags.

Don't know what an activity bag is? Basically, the idea is to create a ready-to-go activity that will fit inside a gallon ziploc bag.  I love having a stash of them so I can grab one or two for keeping my young children occupied.  I throw them in my purse/diaper bag for doctor office visits, church, or even to use when I'm getting dinner ready.

I realized that I have amassed quite a collection of my own, yet I have only posted one or two here.  Oops!  Lately, I have come across some new wonderful ideas around the web.  Here are a few activities I've made for my boys (and the links so you can make some too). 

Magnifying Pictures:

My boys love looking through magnifying glasses.  As soon as I saw this awesome idea and printable, I printed this baby off!  Basically, you look at the cards with a tiny picture through a magnifying glass to determine what the picture is and match it up to the large picture on the game mat.  Genius!

Mr. One really examined the pics with the magnifying glass, and enjoyed trying to use it correctly.   Mr. Two didn't really understand the magnifying glass concept, but he enjoyed the prop and used his extra sharp preschooler eyes to figure out what the tiny picture was on his own.

Shape Sorter:

I found this activity in this post (along with some other great ideas).  The 3D shapes were in the dollar bin at Target (thank goodness they weren't sold out when I got there).  I used a Pringles can instead of an oatmeal can to hold the shapes.  (I was pushing Pringles for lunch to all family members because I wanted to finish this project asap!)  I used my exacto knife to cut the shapes on the lid, and mod podged some scrapbook paper onto the outside of the can.  If you want all three bags of foam shapes to fit in one container, use the oatmeal canister.  If you want something a bit smaller, use the Pringles can, just know you can't fit all 150 shape pieces into it (I figured I'd use the extra shapes for other projects).

No joke, my two and a half year old LOVES this!  He played with it for hours the first day.  His older brother (who is five) enjoyed it too, but he had more fun building objects with the little shapes. 

Are you getting excited about activity bags like I am?  I'm going to post more as I get to them.  In the meantime, here's a great resource of activity bag ideas over at Delicious Ambiguity.