Busy bags for toddlers can be a life saver! I started using them after our second daughter was born and our older daughter was a toddler. I used them as a way to occupy her while I was nursing. Now that our younger daughter is a toddler they still come in handy. Toddler busy bags for traveling is a must, but sometimes it’s fun to make the busy bags themed based upon the season. That’s why we created some Halloween toddler busy bags!
For me it’s important to make the busy bags as something that the child can do independently. Or at a minimum show them for a moment how it works, then they can work on their own. Sometimes I also like to make the activity so that it can get more challenging if the child is ready for it. Making it this way allows the toddler to use the bag longer without getting bored.
5 Halloween Toddler Busy Bags
A thing to remember about busy bags is often times you may already have stuff around your house to make them. Or you can shift the activity slightly to include stuff you already have. For these five Halloween busy bags I bought 3 items at the Dollar Tree. The rest of the items I already had.
Mummy Busy Bag
Simply cut a “gingerbread man” shape out of thick paper or cardboard. I like to always make two in case one breaks or a friend joins in on the playing. Then add gauze or loose weave creepy cloth strips. Even white yarn could work for this.
Allow the toddler to wrap the fabric around the body shape cut out. They can do this over and over wrapping just the arms or legs, figuring out how to wrap it’s head or making it fully wrapped. Doing this activity helps them practice their gross motor along with fine motor skills.
Counting Spider Legs
If you have some brown or black construction paper you are pretty set here. First, cut circles or ovals for the body of the spiders. Then cut long, thin, curved pieces for the spider legs. Otherwise, you need a marker and some dice.
If your toddler is still learning to count you will want to label each spider 1-10. In addition to that you will put dots on the spider body that correlate to the number on the spider. This allows for self correction. They just put one leg on each dot and can count as they do so.
If your toddler is already pretty good at counting you can add a die to the mix. They use the die to tell them how many legs go on the spider. They are using number recognition to do so. Start with a die that has the numeral on it. Then move to a die that has the dots. (I use this dice set for many of our games.)
Creepy Eyed Letters
All you need for this toddler busy bag are two things. Alphabet cards and googly eyes! Easy peasy!
Put some alphabet cards into the pencil bag. A great place to start is with the letters in the toddler’s name. Then add others once they have those down. We love the Kindergarten Toolkit flashcards and used those. Any googly eyes work, but I liked the colored ones that were different sizes. This gives the kids a little more choice when choosing their googly eyes for the creepy letters.
Cutting Halloween Stickers
Grab a package of Halloween stickers and you are set on this toddler busy bag. Use any kind of paper that you have. Make dotted lines between the stickers or leading to the sticker. Allow the toddler to cut on the dotted lines.
If your toddler is new to cutting do all straight lines. If your toddler is older or does well with cutting add some curved lines. As a disclaimer, I always stay super close and have them at a table when scissors are involved!
Monster Creations
This one is another one you could just open up your craft bucket for and see what you have that could work. No need to buy a ton of new stuff. Add some googly eyes from the ones you got for the other busy bag.
I cut an old file folder to make two oval pieces and two rectangle pieces. This makes great parts for the body. Then think about smaller things that could be arms, legs, hair and details pieces.
Things that we used were feathers, large buttons, straws, small wooden pieces and string of some kind. These were all things we had already. But this was the Halloween busy bag that my girls liked the most!
Just remember busy bags don’t have to be hard to create or expensive to put together. They can be rather simple and fun! The most important thing to me when making busy bags is making sure they fit into zip up pencil bags. This makes them super easy to grab and go for travel or appointments. Another thing that I always consider is chocking hazards. All of our children are different and have unique tendencies. Make sure what you are putting into the busy bag are things that are safe for your toddler.
If you liked these Halloween toddler busy bags or are looking for more busy bags we have a set of ten toddler busy bags for traveling and even 7 more toddler busy bags.
What do you use toddler busy bags for?
Until Next Time- Truly Love,
Cassie
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