One Fish Two Fish Busy Bag

I had another cute busy bag idea and it only took 5 minutes to make, so I went with it. I know my daughter needs some work on her numbers so One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish was a pretty obvious choice. I just cut red and blue fish out of card stock, stacking a couple pieces together to cut a bunch at once. The red ones are marked with numerals and the blue ones have a corresponding number of dots.

I like creating busy bags that have a variety of ways to learn. We worked on sorting by color, creating patterns, recognizing and ordering numerals, matching numerals to the correct number of dots, and counting out fish to match the number.

One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish Game

Red Fish Blue Fish Patterns Activity

One Fish Two Fish Numbers Activity

red fish blue fish counting activity

Number Matching Dr. Seuss Game

It is pretty simple but I can get a lot of out it. I showed her how to start the simpler tasks and then it gave me a few minutes to work while she completed the sorting or pattern. She needs more help with recognizing numerals so we did that together. Then we worked on her numbers a few other ways.

If you want to pin it for later...

One Fish Two Fish Preschool Busy Bag

Also, here is the activity we did earlier this week:

Cat in the Hat Name Practice Activity

Kindergarten registration is quickly approaching. I am not ready. My summer baby is not completely prepared academically, either. Oh, I think she will be fine and I don't expect as much out of her because she is younger than the other kids. Still, I am feeling like a failure for not doing a better job of preparing her. I mean, it is the new standard for preschoolers to be enrolled in music, gymnastics, karate, ballet, swimming, art, yoga, and intermediate accounting classes. And speak 3 languages. Mine just stays home with me and makes messes.

I am probably wrong, but I am not pushing her too hard. I want her to play and have fun at home while she still can. Without making messes, of course.

Her name only has 3 different letters in it, though. Seriously. I think we could work on that.

Side note: We once considered the name Dominique but I pictured trying to teach a 4yo to write that and scrapped it from the list. #lazyparenting

Also, I haven't made any new busy bags for awhile. They usually keep her occupied so that she makes less messes. Double win.

Since Read Across America Day is coming up and I appreciate a good Dr. Seuss book, it gave me a starting point for some new busy bag ideas. This one is just strips of card stock with letters written on in Sharpie. On the back sides, I did a dotted version, then laminated the strips with packaging tape to make them dry-erase marker friendly. I even made an extra set for my nephew 'cause I am awesome like that and had extra paper strips.

If y0u want to pin it for later...

Here are some more busy bags I have made if you are looking for more ideas:

Use plastic eggs for a simple busy bag or learning center activity matching upper and lower case alphabet letters!

Guest Book Quilt

Last fall we had a 70th anniversary party for my grandparents. My Meemaw and Pappy are just so spunky and we are so blessed to have them in our lives and in great health! My Pap makes quite an impression. He says the wildest things and tells the funniest stories. He has a knack for finding amazing deals and making a quick profit. He also makes wooden crosses in his workshop and carries them in his pocket to give away. My Meemaw is such a sweetheart and, although she might flare her nostrils at him from time to time, she tolerates his antics with a little smile. She still sings in the choir and volunteers at church. She comes to as many of her great-grandchildren's sporting events as she can. (Her senior admission card is falling apart but she is so proud of it!) She pretty much just radiates sweetness and love.

We celebrated their anniversary (and Pap's 90th birthday) with a party last fall. As an alternative to a guest book, I offered to make a quilt. I had several charm packs (sets of assorted 5" squares of fabric) that I had won in giveaways and I cut some additional 5" blocks from solid white. The guests used fabric markers to sign the squares or add a special message.

Then, after letting them sit on my desk for a few months, I finally got around to making the quilt. I just did basic patchwork, arranging the squares pretty randomly and even using the unsigned squares in case anyone wants to sign it later. I added a white border and then did free motion quilting. I am not very good at free motion quilting. I need a lot more practice. I basically just decided that finished was better than perfect.

It is just a lap size quilt. I probably could have added in some other quilt squares to make it bigger, but I kind of just picture this draped over Meemaw's couch or Pap covering up with it while sitting on his recliner. :)

I was running out of daylight to take these pics- and we had snow- but I am going to now bombard you with quilt pictures because this was a fun project and it has been awhile since I actually finished a quilt:

If you would like to pin this idea for later... I mean, it isn't anything super original, but it will get much more use than a regular guest book and the charm squares did make it significantly easier!