Busy Bag Swap

I've been eager to participate in a "busy bag swap" for a few months now. For those of you not addicted to Pinterest and mommy blogs, a busy bag is a self-contained activity designed to entertain (and often teach) a certain age set. A lot of the ones I've seen can be made from cheap materials or stuff from around the house - and it's popular right now to organize an event in which you and 19 other (crazy) moms work together to compile a collection of these activities so you'll have lots of fun and educational activities for your toddler or preschooler to do at home. You know, a swap. Every contributor puts together 20 copies of the same activity, and then we get together and swap them so that we end up with a collection of 20 different activities. Sounds so fun, right?

Well, it was a little chaotic. And I was up until an unspeakable hour last night trying to put mine together, as it (of course) turned out to be a little more time-intensive than I expected. 

But then as soon as we got home from the swap, I pulled out the bag on the top of the pile - and watched with amazement as my two kids became absolutely absorbed in stuffing pompoms into a plastic container! After this, they tried a few of the other activities, with varying levels of success. We won't rush through all the activities just yet, but I'm satisfied to know that we've got some fun times ahead.

And as much as my too-old-for-late-nights body is screaming for me to get into my bed and never leave it again, I think that the hours of sorting pipe cleaners and Ziplock bags have proven worthwhile.

Many thanks to the Tate Springs MOPS group for organizing the event - and to my precious P, who stayed up with me, helping me get the stinkin' bags done before sunrise.