I first came across the idea of a busy bag when my oldest was a toddler. When you start looking for good toddler ideas, you’ll find busy bags. These come in all sorts of styles and materials, so long as it’s an activity that is portable, relatively quiet and fits in a bag, it’s a ‘busy bag’. You should try googling “busy bag”, there is end to ideas!
The LEGO® Busy Bag
I discovered the “LEGO® Busy Bag” later. It came among the various Duplo® ideas for the younger group, but for those slightly older, won’t-put-everything-in-their-mouth stage, the LEGO® Busy Bag might be the thing. The LEGO® Busy Bag is, most often, a small collection of LEGO® bricks and cards with designs for the bricks that the child can build. Put all together in a plastic bag or a small container, and you’ve got a portable, quiet, ‘creative’ activity you can pull out whenever your child needs such an activity. This is the kind of thing to pull out when you are stuck in a waiting room or on a long road trip and the child is tethered to the seat.
Getting Started
I’m all about DIY, and I love creating all kinds of things. And a toy for my child is towards the top of the list (yummy food beats any toy every day). To create the cards, you can use any one of several design programs that are out there. I’ve used LEGO Digital Designer, but found the learning curve rather steep. I found Stud.io easier to learn. I found having about 10 designs using 10 to 15 bricks was enough to keep a little boy engaged for a little bit; but my experience is that unless the child is strapped into a car seat, there is nothing interesting enough to keep him working quietly for much time. And Mr Wigglesworth is showing similar tendencies, so I think it might just be a toddler/preschooler thing.
If you’ve got a collection of bricks, you can design your cards to use what you’ve got. But since many sets don’t have much in the way of bricks, you might find your selection limited. So, what are options for acquiring bricks? First, you can buy just the bricks you want from our store! Your next best option is to purchase a ‘creative box’, like this one at walmart or at amazon. You’ll get a good selection of bricks in a slew of different colors.
Want Help?
I’ll explain over several posts how I created cards and put together the busy bags. Would you be interested in purchasing LEGO® Busy Bags that have laminated cards and the bricks contained in a sturdy zip-closed plastic bag? Let me either via comments, here on the Facebook post, or use the contact form here on the blog.
Now go and create!
