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.

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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.

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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!

Mod Podge Toy Doghouse

My parents have a great tradition with the grandchildren. When they reach a certain age, they are treated to a birthday dinner out/shopping spree/sleepover. My kids really enjoy it. They love having some one on one time with them and getting a break from their siblings! Last year, my dad helped my 9yo build a toy doghouse for some stuffed animals she chose on her shopping spree. She brought it home to have me help her decorate it. We finally got around to it a year later. I am going to let her tell you about it!

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Hi! I'm Lydia. I have 2 stuffed dogs named Sky and Rose. My Pappy and I built a doghouse for my dogs.

 

Then, my mom helped me decorate the doghouse and it was looking pretty good! First, I decorated the roof. We punched circles out of scrapbook paper. Then, we used Mod Podge to glue them on the roof.

 

Some of them stuck out over the edge so we had to sand them off.

 

Next, I painted the outside of the house red and the inside aqua. Then, we cut out windows, flowers, and butterflies from the leftover paper. We used Mod Podge to put them on, too.

 

Last, Mom painted grass, stems, and leaves on the sides of the house.

My doghouse turned out beautiful!

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Thank you, Lydia! The before and after is pretty impressive. I was glad that we could work together on this. It is sometimes hard for me to let go of my perfectionism and let the kids have control of the craft projects. She did a great job!

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