One of my summer goals is to help Buddy learn his letters. So far, he has been very interested in letters and getting pretty good at identifying capital letters. Buddy has also been interested in reading and writing words. He knows how to spell his first name, as well as Mom and Dad. Since he often asks how to spell other family members’ names, I put together a magnetic letter busy bag for him.
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My original inspiration for this busy bag was on I Heart Crafty Things’s Blog. She used a metal pencil box for her words, but I just used an old tin box that I had around the house. (This pencil box and this metal tin would both work well if you’re looking for something to buy.)
I wrote down the names of different people in our family on large popsicle sticks. Since Buddy loves animals, I decided to also include the words cat and dog. I Heart Crafty Things used hot glue to add magnetic adhesive to her sticks, but I didn’t. My tin is a little too narrow to have the word under the letters in the tin. We just set the sticks on the floor and then spelled in the tray. Then I found all of the necessary letters from our magnetic letters set, and then the busy bag was finished.
I put this box in the car for our road trip to see my dad, and Buddy was so excited! He played with it in the car and at Granddad’s house as well. Buddy feels like a reader because he knows just enough to figure out what each word says. (For example, he knows both Dad and dog start with d. And since he knows how to spell Dad, he knows the other d word in the kit is dog.)
We brought this kit on our first airplane trip this summer, and I’m sure it will continue to travel with us for awhile. Buddy really enjoys it, and we sometimes use it at our house as well. I plan to switch out a few words once Buddy is ready for more challenge.
Do you have any other ideas for busy bags? Please share in the comments.
