The Toddler Busy Book

Here is the book I was telling you about! The Toddler Busy Book by Trish Kuffner. This has been an incredible resource for me lately as well as the Brightly Beaming site. When we just want to have a day of fun or if I am improvising our pre-preschool activities - this has been my GO - TO book!

As proof, the other night we went to dinner with a bunch of family (it was a fairly loud and kid friendly environment - not your nice sit down dinner) and I brought along a "Busy Bag" as described in The Toddler's Busy Book for Ella while we waited for our food and once she finished. - - Side note, she is a much picker eater all of the sudden and so doesn't eat much of anything we give her except oatmeal and ice cream (if she is lucky....) - -

The busy bag was amazing! I had a bunch of different things for her to do so when she would get bored of one thing we would put that away and bring out the next. We had stuff like a sticker book (I had to help her with that a little), crayons and drawing paper, a special toy or two, a play cell phone, a small metal pan with a bunch of magnets, and some snacks. In the book, Trish gives a bunch more ideas of things you can bring along to keep the little ones occupied. I had made Ella a monster tote for Christmas that has crayon teeth (I got the idea from crafster) so I use that as her busy bag.

The book is also loaded with recipes for playdough, glitter (made out of salt!), different kinds of glue and adhesives, and clay. Ella has really gotten into painting and this book even has a recipe on how to make your own paint. It has been so fun to finally do crafts with Ella that she can participate in.

*I know this post is all about Ella and the pictures are all Calvin, I didn't have any of Ella doing her art projects so I thought I would entertain you with these pics of the cute man!