This 3 in 1 rainbow busy bag is easy to prepare and fun to play. Great for helping young children improve fine motor, develop early math skills and make literacy connections with words and letters.
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Quick and Easy Rainbow Busy Bag for Kids
There are times when we all need a little color to brighten our day. This activity is great for young children of a variety of different ages. Have a preschooler? Encourage them to help you hunt for and cut out magazine pictures for the selected color. This adds even more fine motor practice in.
If your child is younger, pre-cut the magazines and let him help you glue them on. My 2 boys (ages 26 months and 5 years old) both were able to do this activity while working on age appropriate skills. Adapt this rainbow busy bag to meet your child’s needs.
Pack it in your purse or diaper bag for on-the-go learning!
Materials for Rainbow Busy Bag:
- Old magazines. We used Parents Magazine because they had kid friendly, bright colored pictures.
- Construction Paper
- Kids Scissors
- Elmer’s Washable School Glue
- Washable Markers or printed words in color.
- Large Ziploc Bag
- Stapler
Rainbow SORTING Activity:
1. Cut pictures representing colors out of magazines.
2. Set the words out on the corresponding papers. Have your child sort the pictures into their correct paper.
3. Talk about the pictures. What are they?
4. Place the items in the large bag.
5. Repeat the activity several times.
Younger child – Limit the colors to 2 or 3 at a time for younger learners.
Extra challenge – Point out the letters in each word. Make the beginning sound for each. Have your child repeat the sound and guess the word. (the color clues will help them too!)
DIY Rainbow Book:
1. Sort the pictures to the corresponding papers.
2. Glue the pictures and the color words to each page.
3. Let the pages dry (if your toddler is like mine, there may be a lot of glue!)
4. Stack the pages on top of one another and staple together on the left side.
5. Have your child READ the book to you. Encourage them to point to the color words and name the objects on the page.
Our Favorite Rainbow Picture Books:
We like to add a picture book to our busy bags. It enriches the language experience and provides little ones with repeated opportunities to interact with a book. Books don’t take up a lot of space either!
How the Crayons Saved the Rainbow
What Makes a Rainbow?: A Magic Ribbon Book
Elmer and the Rainbow (Elmer Books)
Want more? Get our list of Colorful Rainbow Books for Kids.
Rainbow Busy Bag Ideas
FROM LEFT TO RIGHT
Rainbow Color and Shape Learning Puzzles // Itsy Bitsy Fun
Magnetic Rainbow Name Box // Mama. Papa. Bubba.
Rainbow Sight Word Lacing // Preschool Inspirations
Shape Lacing // The Pleasantest Thing
Rainbow Puzzle // Mommy Needs a Coffee Break
Rainbow Popsicle Stick Patterns // Playdough to Plato
Rainbow Color and Shape Match // Frogs Snails and Puppy Dog Tails
Clothespin Rainbow // Adventures of Adam
Quick and Easy Rainbow Busy Bag // The Educators’ Spin on It
Sort and Count Rainbow Puzzle // Powerful Mothering
Rainbow Prism Busy Bag // Left Brain Craft Brain
Rainbow Bubble Wrap Busy Bag // Lalymom
Rainbow Color Sort // Sugar Aunts
Weaving Rainbows // Best Toys for Toddlers
Toddler 4 – in – 1 Rainbow Busy Box // Lemon Lime Adventures
Rainbow Color Sorting Busy Bag // Coffee Cups and Crayons
Pipe Cleaner Rainbow Busy Bag // Still Playing School
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How awesome is this! Love that we can reuse our old magazines for something fun and educational!
I love the simplicity of this color sorting activity!! My boys are always excited to clip from magazines so we'll definitely give this a try. Thanks for the fun idea!