Homeschool Convention and Children: The Power of the Busy Bag

We only went to a few workshops this convention. Most were at times which didn't suit our family, or the topic was not used to our homeschool curriculum. So in the end, I created a lot of little baggies of activities for my children to play with for nothing, but I will share the ones that worked amazingly well for my family.

I always keep what are called "busy bags" in my purse for waiting room times when we go to the doctor. My mother used to have a zippered pouch with all sorts of tiny charms inside. I loved waiting rooms, because that was the only time I was allowed to play with those special toys. In fact, last year my mother offered me the pouch and I was so excited to own those tiny toys.

Apparently, I've passed my love of itty bitty toys to my son. He is crazy for little animals. Specifically those animal toobs by the Safari company. So while packing up for the convention, I made sure we had some little animals, because I knew if he had a handful, he will sit for hours and play relatively quietly. (The only time he gets loud is if there happens to be a particularly intense battle.

He was most excited about the Safari Good Luck Minis Fantasy Fun Pack.

I'm not sure what's light the fire in the boy's heart over dragons lately, but he is all about dragons.

I also wanted to make something a little educational, so I took photos of a few of his mini dinosaurs. I then printed and laminated the pictures and cut them in half, so they were a puzzle.

Here he is putting the puzzles together and then matching the dinosaur toy to the puzzle. He was using this toob pack by the way: Safari LTD Dinos Toob

I had so much fun making these cards, I think I'm going to make more of them for him. However, first things first, I really to sort through the toys. I haven't had the time to sort through their toy box in forever and I'm pretty sure 80% of their toys currently live under the couch. *sigh*

PS. There is a chipmunk who has found our bird feeder and he is adorable!!

 (Please ignore the junky state of my deck. It's a mess. I'm not even bothered by it. I've got enough to clean up in the house.)