Ultimate Preschool Activity Bag! 20 Items – Hours of Fun!

As you may know, I live in two worlds: teenager world and the littles world. These two don’t mix easily, so I have to be intentional. I need to have entertainment for the littles quickly at hand when they are getting squirmy, and more than likely, I haven’t planned anything in particular (though, in sha Allah, next school year I’ll have stuff for my littles to do).

You know my life saver? My Super Organizing Tote from Thirty One! Well, the bag itself isn’t the lifesaver, but all the stuff I can store in it is. My preschool activity bag lives behind the corner part of our sectional, out of the way, but still easily accessible.

So, what’s in the bag? I’m glad you asked! Each items is something I want my kids to play with, but not necessarily independently.

I’ve included some ideas for how to use each item, and use your imagination for more ideas and share them in the comments!

Click on the image to see a larger size. 

Contents of our preschool activity bag

1. Thick craft paper (not pictured)

   1. Painting, coloring
   2. Folding for planes, origami, etc

2. Egg carton

   1. Lots of crafts available in Pinterest
   2. Sorting activities
   3. Holding paint

3. Paint brushes (both large and small)

   1. Painting (obviously)
   2. Sensory
   3. Use handles to manipulate play doh

4. Old container with a hole in the lid. Dried beans inside.

   1. Rattle for young children
   2. Small motor exercise to put beans in through the hole in the lid

5. Bottle with eye dropper

   1. Mom uses for small amounts of paint or other liquid
   2. Small motor activity for young children to use, such as the rainbow in a jar

6. Play doh

   1. Pinterest is a gold mine for play doh activities, and how to make play doh!
   2. Learning organization. Don’t mix colors, please!
   3. Small motor activities to shape into animals or objects

7. Paper cups

   1. Stacking
   2. Nesting
   3. Pouring liquids
   4. Learning half full, half empty, etc.

8. Shoelace

   1. Lace through the spice jar holes

9. Old container with shapes cut in the lid. Varying size pom poms inside.

   1. Shape recognition. i.e. “Put the ball in the triangle hole.”
   2. Color recognition. i.e. “Put the red ball in the container.”

10. Glitter glue

    1. Mix with other items to make fun crafts. Again, check Pinterest!
    2. Easy for kids to see the glue to help them in learning how to glue things together
    3. Decorate creations

11. Old spice bottle with lid (lid has large enough holes for the shoelace)

    1. Use shoelace for lacing, as stated earlier
    2. Fill bottle with various objects for small motor activity for the very young, who can not yet place the beans through the small hole in the container mentioned earlier

12. Old spice bottle. Marbles inside.

    1. Marble painting! Super fun.
    2. Counting marbles
    3. Rattle for the very young
    4. Sound exploration. i.e. How it sounds in the egg carton, how it sounds in the bottle, how it sounds against a cookie cutter

13. Tempura paint (not pictured)

    1. Color recognition
    2. Color mixing
    3. Sensory (if you’re okay with your littles getting dirty)

14. Cookie cutters (pictured in collage)

    1. Tracing
    2. Cutting out shapes in play doh

15. Plastic rolling pin (pictured in collage)

    1. Rolling out play doh
    2. Rolling paint

16. Corn butter spreader (pictured in collage)

    1. Stuff play doh inside. Learn inside/outside
    2. Cut out shapes in play doh

17. Meat tenderizer head (handle removed) (pictured in collage)

    1. Sensory item for the very young
    2. Imprint into play doh

18. Plastic knife (not pictured)

    1. Cut play doh
    2. Make sounds against various objects

19. Various stamps (not pictured)

    1. Used with paint or markers

20. Kids scissors (not pictured)

    1. Fringe on everything!
    2. Cut play doh
    3. Learn self control to not cut certain things

What else do you think you could do with these items?

This post is linked up across the web!