9 Easy Preschool Busy Bags

One of the best ways to entertain kids on the go is with low or no-prep busy bags. We’ve got a selection of the best easy preschool busy bags in this handy round-up.

I don’t know about you, but our family seems to be constantly on the go. We’ve got restaurant visits, plane rides, and road trips. There’s doctors’ offices, appointments, and work to get done. We’ve got practices where one kid sits on the sidelines while the other one plays with their team.

In other words- our kids get bored. A LOT.

And while getting bored isn’t a bad thing, it’s not always a convenient thing. We need something to keep our preschoolers occupied so that we can attend to more pressing matters.

Enter: easy preschool busy bags.The on the go solution to keeping your kids- well, busy.

We like our busy bags to follow a few basic rules. First, they have to be easy to prep. Secondly, they have to have pieces no one will cry about if they get lost. Lastly, they have to actually be entertaining for our kids’ little hands.

So if you’re looking for easy busy bags for preschoolers (or toddlers, or big kids for that matter) we’ve got you covered.

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Sticker Sorting Preschool Busy Bag

Sorting of one kind or another makes for a super-easy busy bag solution. In this activity, kids will use round circle stickers to sort by color. You can sometimes find them at the dollar store, or grab them on Amazon here.

First, fold blue, red, yellow, and green pieces of construction paper in quarters. Cut one quarter from each sheet, and glue onto a white piece of paper. You should now have four colored sections.

Cut apart a pack of round stickers in multiple colors. Ask your toddler or preschooler to sort the stickers by color.

Prep enough stickers to use this activity again and again, and store together in a pencil pouch or ziploc bag.

Velcro Foam Blocks

If you’ve got a busy little builder in your life, they are going to LOVE this busy bag made with foam blocks and velcro. You can often find them at a dollar store, or grab the foam blocks and Velcro tape on Amazon.

First, cut the Velcro into pieces, if necessary. Next, you’ll hot glue Velcro to two sides of each block. (I recommend hot gluing, even if your Velcro is self-adhesive. It’ll last longer this way.) Make sure one is the “hook” side, and one is the “loop” side so they’ll be easier to stack later.

Now, your blocks are ready to entertain your child on the go. At first, they’ll be content to just play with the blocks as is.

Once they get tired of free play with the blocks, you can start to issue them challenges to extend the play.

Ask them to build the tallest tower they can before it falls over, or ask them to make each color into its own tower. You can even ask them to make towers that are three blocks tall, then five blocks tall, and so on to help reinforce early counting skills.

Sorting Beads

We showed you how to have your child make bracelets in our last busy bag post, but this activity will put a new twist on a classic fine motor activity.

Buy a pack of pony beads, or dye beads yourself using macaroni salad pasta (like the ones we made in our St. Patrick’s day fine motor activities post). Put in one pipe cleaner for each color of bead. Ask your child to sort each bead onto its matching pipe cleaner.

Sorting Popsicle Sticks

Sorting for the win, yet again! This time kids will sort colorful popsicle sticks into envelopes.

You can either DIY the “envelopes” with construction paper, or buy a pack on Amazon. Secure them to a piece of cardstock with tacky glue, and ask your preschooler to sort the sticks into their correct spots.

No Prep Preschool Busy Bag: Color Wonder Markers

It doesn’t get easier than this no-mess busy bag for preschoolers. Just grab some Color Wonder coloring pages and markers (we’re partial to this Baby Shark version on Amazon). For easier storage, remove the pages from the book and store in a pencil pouch (which makes it way easier to throw into your bag at the last minute and keeps things organized).

LEGO Bricks

I never thought to take our full size LEGO bricks on the go, but when I saw this little base plate set I just knew it would make SUCH an easy preschool busy bag.

And it couldn’t be easier to prep- just throw some LEGO bricks into a pencil pouch with a small base plate, and you’ll have a busy bag that makes it easy to build on the go.

Playdough

You know TheSalty Mamas have a love-hate relationship with playdough.It drives us crazy when they mix up the colors-making it even more exciting for the kids when we actually do let them have free rein.

Grab a set of playdough tools and throw them in a bag with a small containers of PlayDoh (either from the dollar store or Amazon).

Name Puzzles

Remember those leftover sheets of construction paper from our sticker sorting activity up there? Well, it’s time to give them new life.

Write one letter from your child’s name on each of the paper scraps. Voila- instant name puzzle for early learners.

The different colors help provide a scaffold for kids who are just learning their names. Once they’ve mastered the puzzle with different colors, switch out to letters written only on white paper and see what they can do.

On the Go Craft Kits

Don’t feel like you have to be crazy-creative with your kids’ busy bags. Let the good people over at Melissa and Doug take one for the team.

Their On the Go Craft Pack comes with little crafts that are perfect for busy bags. If your kids are younger, separate the parts for each craft into its own snack size Ziploc bag to avoid frustration. If your kids are older, they can probably navigate the pieces on their own.

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With these easy preschool busy bags, you’ll be ready to entertain your kids anytime, anywhere. What keeps your kids busy? What would you add to the list?

Looking for more ways to keep your preschoolers busy? Head here next-