Busy Bags

This week I am participating in a "BUSY BAG" exchange with 25 other moms. The idea is that each one of us makes ONE activity several times. Then we all get together and exchange them, ending with 25 different activities to keep our little ones busy. The following is an explanation of how I accomplished my activity. I can't wait to exchange our bags!!! This post will be linked up to another blog, so that if anyone else wants to do an exchange they have a how to guide.

Hello everyone. We are the Seales.

We have only one child right now, Bubba, who turned 2 last May. We are in the process of adopting hopefully in the near future. We've gone through all the classes and paperwork. Now we are playing the waiting game.My Amazing Husband works hard as a band director which he has been for 7 years now. He teaches percussion, can you tell? (I was a band director, but then had Bubba, and I am now a SAHM). Who knew that SAHM could be so busy. Ha!

How do you spend your free time?

When Bubba is napping sometimes I read, Catch up on sleep, cook, sew and recently I took up crocheting. I learned on YouTube, I'm not kidding. Then my mother helped me. My husband and I like to golf, but haven't really since I was pregnant.

When you were a child, what was one of your favorite ways to spend your day?

I was really involved, and still am, in music. I also liked to play softball and swim. ( I grew up in Arizona, it was a must)

Fondest memory with your mom as a child>

I loved to bake with my mother. We also sewed, although I never really liked the process, just the finished product.

What does special time with your children look like?

Right now I'm just soaking up the one on one time with Bubba. With adoption stuff pending, I know we only have a little time left with just the two of us. We like to do crafts, read books, bake and play sports. ( which just means throwing a ball back and forth or shooting a basket)

Favorite outdoor activity with your kids?

When it's not hot outside we like to go to the park, feed the ducks and take walks. When it is hot outside we swim, go to the splash pad, and eat ice cream.

Favorite blog for children's activities/crafts/parenting?

There are so many good sites. Here are two of them that I like.

1+1+1=1, and Totally Tots.

A favorite tradition that you want to pass down with your children?

We'd love to pass down family devotionals. It's so fun to learn about God together. We would also like to pass down a Love for music.

Alright enough about us. Let's see what our busy bag holds.

BUSY BAG

Here is my assignment: Marble Golf Tee Game

Materials needed
- golf tees. Every bag will need at least 9 tees. (I put in more in case they lost some)
- marbles. Again every bag will need 9. (I put in extras of these too) *3 of each color*
- Wood (If you are making 26 bags like we did, you will need at least 18 feet of 1x6 inch boards.
- permanent markers

- small snack size ziplocs (just to hold all of the tees and marbles)

Tools needed
- circular saw
- drill press
- router
- sander

Cost break down

boards : $7

marbles $5

boards $12

markers $5

White nail polish ($0) I had this.

Snack Ziplocs (had these)

Total: $29 (thats $1.11 per bag)

So First I gathered my materials. I bought 2 bags of golf tees at walmart, they ran me $3.50 a bag.

I looked High and Low for marbles. I ended up finding them at Toys R Us, in the dollar bin. I also just recently saw them at walmart for a dollar as well. I bought 5 bags costing me $5 total. (not all the bags are pictured)If you can find a willing helper to help you separate out the colors, it's not necessarily faster, but more FUN!!!Finished product. I had about four colors total (blue, green, orange and white)I decided to make mine using wood instead of the florist foam, it was a little expensive, and I thought these wouldn't break down like foam. I bought white board (Yes that's what it's called) at Lowes. I spent $12 total. I purchased 18 feet worth of 1x6 inch boards. I had them cut the 12 foot board in half to fit in my car. You get two cuts for free at Lowes.
Another reason I went with wood is because my Husband wanted to get together with his friend and use power tools. So he called up my Son's Godfather, and off to work they went.

First they sliced the boards to be an even square, which ended up being more like a 5 and 1/4 inches. Who knew 6 inch wide boards were never really 6 inches wide? Look how handy my husband is being. I LOVE IT!!!

Here's a rough square.

Piling High.Then they routed the edges to make them smooth. See the guy in this picture? He's amazing!!!More Edge smoothing by my Awesome Husband.

Here's what the boards looked like after the routing.

Then they drilled the holes. See how mathematical they were. WOW!!!

Here is Bubba's Godfather again. He looks like an Angel in this picture, and well.......he is. Without his help/tools we could have never done this. Here he is sanding down the sharp edges so that nobody gets hurt.Here are the boards after the holes were drilled.

Now if you wanted to you could definitely leave the boards like this.

But I decided to draw lines on it to make it usable as a tic-tac-toe board when they got older. I also put a couple x's on top of the tees.

I also colored the top of the tees with markers to match the marbles.

Here is Bubba using the final product. It didn't take him long to match the colors of the tees to the marble color. He's been asking to play with these nonstop since I brought home the drilled boards. It was a big hit.

It works on fine motor skills and color matching.

Hope you enjoy.