I'm Back!: Sensory Balloons

I haven't been posting for awhile. But I'm back again and I'm going to try and dedicate a little more time to my blog than I have been lately.  One of the moms in one of my Moms groups is going to France this summer and she has been working on a few busy bags to keep her daughter entertained on the plane rides. She decided that it might be fun to have a busy bag exchange party! The basic idea is for each mom attending the party to make enough of one busy bag project for everyone attending the party. The busy bags are to be used to keep your child entertained on summer trips or out to eat at a restaurant.
Each activity needed to meet the following criteria:

• Self-contained.  This way, you can just grab a bag and GO! (without having to add a number of supplies to the bag in order to make it useful.)

• Transportable.  Yes, they will definitely be used at home,eventually,  but she wanted moms to be able to grab a few bags to take to a restaurant, a waiting room, plane trips, car rides, etc.

• Convenient.  None of the bags will have supplies that require major set-up or clean-up: (no paint, watercolors, liquids, sand, dirt, etc.)

• Inexpensive. She didn’t want anyone spending too much money on this project!

• Easy to Make: She didn’t want anyone spending hours and hours and hours making their activity.

• Re-usable. She wanted these activities to last a while so that  other children can use them in the future.  Therefore, she avoided activities where you would have to buy new supplies to re-stock the bag.  This is why lamination is important for some of the activities.

My contribution to the Busy Bag exchange are Sensory Balloons.

"A simple activity to explore "touch" is Sensory Balloons!! I gathered some balloons and used a household item to fill each one. For example you could use dry beans, coffee grounds, hair gel, flour, baby powder, rice, water, etc. The great thing about the coffee beans and baby powder is that they smell! Fill balloons using a funnel and something to push it down into the balloon.  For the liquids I used a ketchup squirt bottle, and for the dry materials we used a funnel and a chopstick.  You don't have to fill them up very much.  So this is a great way to tie two senses together in one activity.

                                                                

I am excited to see what Busy Bags. I am going to be able to bring back for Cinderella's Big Sis to explore. I plan to keep  her “Busy Bags” stashed away until our road trip in June to  Napa for a wedding and then break a few more out for our trip to Hawaii in July. Hopefully these will be life savers! Obviously the sensory balloons will be for the road trip!

Fill in the Blank Friday!

 

 

1.  The highlight of my week was   planning a Girl's Night Out for Saturday night! .

2.   If I had to classify my interior design aesthetic it would be   mismatched.  My dream would be to have a Pottery Barn/Ballard Designs/Restoration Hardware/Sur la Table like home .

3.  My first vehicle was   a 1990 maroon Honda Civic Hatchback.

4. An item I need to have in my day in order to function is  an ice-cold bottled Mocha Frappucino .

5. My favorite way to waste time is  by puttering around on Pinterest. I think I could maybe possibly be a little bit addicted .

6. Right now I could really go for   a nap and some Nyquil   .

7.  This weekend I will be   going out for a Girl's Night Out on Saturday and decorating and getting ready for a Purim party on Sunday afternoon .