What to Pack in Busy Bags for Kids
Busy Bags for kids are just what they sound like: bags that we pack for the BeyondFit kids when we want to keep them… you guessed it, BUSY!
Whether it’s for traveling when kids need to be quiet on the airplane, or for meetings, church or you name it…
Busy bags are a great way to help kids stay quietly entertained.
I recently asked my boys to help create their busy bag and to share some of their favorite suggestions.
Here’s what they came up with…
Quiet (and clean) Activity Bag for Kids:
1. Books. My kids love books books that have doors that open (or flaps that lift), or things you slide, any book that requires an action is highly prized in this area. The key to finding good quiet bag books is keeping your eyes open.
A few that we’ve found and love from Amazon include…
- Loved
- The Jesus Storybook Bible
- The Friend that Forgives
- Indescribable
- God’s Very Good Idea
- God Made the World
2. Mess-Free Art. Art can be pretty messy for my kids. That’s why we love to look for clean, mess free coloring and art options. These Melissa and Doug Scratch Art books are PERFECT! We also love to make art out of pipe cleaners (the creations you can make our endless) and enjoy playing quietly with this mess free foam modeling clay that dries and hardens, so it creates much less mess than play-dough.
3. Quiet Toys. Card games and brain quest are two of our favorite quiet toys. I also try not to use toys that can easily be thrown or make excessively fun banging noises. It’s trial and error on this one, but my boys love the Jungle Safari card game, and if you have a kid who knows how to read, you can’t go wrong with age appropriate Brain Quest or this deck of 50 ways to keep the kids entertained.
Other ideas to include in your busy bag are things like…
Tiny dolls or cars — any kind. Kids love to pretend.
Stickers. My boys love stickers. Sticker books, random sticker sheets — you name it, they love it.
Spelling items. We love this spelling toy.
Puzzles — I really like these on the go puzzles for kids that can be easily stored in the included sturdy wooden storage box that doubles as a puzzle board.
Letter writing practice. My boys love wax pencils, dry erase boards, wipe-off crayon boards, you name it we’ve used it and it’s great quiet practice!
Coloring — color wonder is great. I used to try not to bring markers due to the risk of them being used to color on the church pew, plane, my bag, etc, but….
Then I discovered Uashmama bags!
I am Tote-ally in love with this new bag.
It looks like leather buuuut it’s actually…. Washable paper!
These bags are designed and made in Italy. After hearing Sarah Tucker & Lindsay Kingdon rave about Uashmama.usa, I got one for our spring break trip this month, and I love it already.
We’ve been testing it out as our “Busy Bag” for church on Sundays and it’s perfect.
It’s big enough too hold everything we needed to keep the BeyondFit Kids busy and (somewhat) quiet during church. And I love that it has two large compartments & smaller pockets for your accessories (or snacks)…
Also, did I mention they’re washable?!
So if anyone colors on mom’s bag instead of their bulletin… no problem.
