We are new to the world of busy bags, and I don't know why because they are a terrific way to keep the kids busy when you're out and about.  I tend to let the kids fill their bags with whatever toys they want to bring with them, but that can end up a bit chaotic.  I love the idea that they could pick up a busy bag to bring out with them and be engrossed in an educational activity while we're travelling or out for a meal.  So for our first busy bag I've gone for a super simple tower building activity, using one of our favourite things to play with, Lego!

What you'll need:

• a bag or box to keep everything in
• Lego Duplo blocks (or regular Lego for older children)
• 2 wooden blocks
• permanent markers

The only real set up that this busy bag requires is to make the dice.  Of course if you have a number die and a colour die you could use those, but I wanted to make a dice with numerals instead of dots to help Ethan with his number recognition and to make a colour die so that we could use it for lots of different activities.  So I coloured the wooden blocks with the permanent markers to make the two different dice for us to use.  


The busy bag is very easy for kids to use and doesn't require much explanation, I simply put it in front of Ethan and told him to roll the number dice to show how many Lego blocks his tower should have, and then to roll the colour dice each time to decide which colour of block to put on his tower next.


Ethan picked it up really quickly and was having fun building towers.  It's a great way to work on number recognition and multi step instructions.  It can also be played with two children to work on turn taking.


To extend this busy bag activity I might add a little notebook and coloured pencils so that Ethan can draw and label his towers each time that he builds one.

This post is part of the A-Z of Busy Bags series on Teach Me Mommy, with 26 fantastic ideas you'll have a busy bag any time you need one!

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