“Can you make us a new game Mommy?”, “Mommy, can we play a game?”, “Mommy can we play the bunny game?”, and my personal favorite “Mommy, can we look at the big book and pick out a new game for you to make us?” have all been the daily requests of my three-year-old twins for the last two months. We have been having so much fun with our Activity Bags!
The first thing I did when I got the Preschool Activities in a Bag ebook 1 and ebook 2 ($15 each or $27 for both) and the Reading Games in a Bag ebook ($15) was print them all out and put them in a big binder. I realized almost immediately that this was a mistake as I used up a ton of ink and most of the actual game pages need printed on cardstock. However having already made the mistake I kept the binder as a master reference. My boys love that binder.
Once I had my notebook printed, we started looking through the books and choosing games to make. I purchased cardstock in several different colors and an inexpensive laminating machine with pouches. Right away, I made ten of the reading games that only required cardstock and lamination. Those games are for my middle children (ages 6 and 9). We played Sight-Word Bingo the very first night.
The reading games are perfect for beginning and intermediate readers and cover many different skills. We have a game for beginning sounds, several games that teach high-frequency words (Bingo, Concentration Word Ladder), a game that teaches body part words and that is just to name a few of the games in Reading Games in a Bag. I have discovered that my children love to learn with games!
I also found many of the preschool games which only required cardstock and lamination and we have made those as well. We’ve been playing Alphabet Puzzles, B or D?, Rabbit Trail, Color and Cut Puzzles, Number Puzzles, Spoon Match, and a Hand Puzzle. We’ve also been playing with the Cut N Collage activity. I’ve just barely scratched the surface of the available games. My littlest three-year-old assures me we need to make each and every game.
While my children are having so much fun, I love the fact that they are each learning valuable skills with their Activity Bags. From word and letter recognition to matching and pattern skills these bags are meant to teach through play. I also love the fact that I already have something new ready to go and when the twins get bored I can just hand them each a bag and keep teaching my older children. Of course, I also get down on the floor and play the games with them — especially the first time.
One very cute thing happened recently when the twins decided to make their own puzzles in a bag. They had been watching me create puzzles from the Activity Bags book and they wanted to get in on the action! They even put their finished masterpiece into a zipper bag.
The activities included in each book are designed to be created and then stored in a gallon size zipper bags. Similar to the concept of file folder games, these games can be stored indefinitely in a plastic bin and used for multiple children. Each game has a label with instructions and I printed those on printable sticky labels. You can also tape them on your bags with packing tape.
The Preschool Activities in a Bag books come with instructions for hosting a swap. This sounds like great fun for Mommies and as the owner of a book you can choose to coordinate a swap with your friends without violating the copyright. If you buy a book that doesn’t include the swap instructions you can download them for free on the website.
My Bottom Line: We are going to use each and every game that came in our books. Those I have made have already been used over and over. We are going to purchase more books. Travel Games in a Binder is the next ebook on my list. We are having so much fun! (Did I mention that already?) If you sign up for the mailing list and fill out a simple survey on the Activity Bags website, you can get a sampler set of Activity Bags for free and try a few out before you buy.
These games look like so much fun! I reviewed math & science…but I might have to get some of these, too!
I love the Preschool bags! I was the opposite, and went through looking for activities that didn’t require any printing (was low on ink when I downloaded the book) and my 3 year loves them! My 5 year old loves that his little brother has his “own easy school work” and likes helping him too. I’m interested in more of these books too!