Busy Boxes

Busy boxes are a great way to organize activities for your toddler and preschooler.  They are really great to pull out when you need to get some house work done, help another child, and nurse a younger sibling.

 

Here is a look at our busy boxes. 

 

These busy boxes are meant to keep her entertained independently while I am busy.  She usually pulls out a box and sits in whatever room I am in so she can still show me things and ask questions and I can supervise her.  Some of these boxes are used during quiet time but others are louder and/or messier so she is not allowed to get them out during our daily quiet time.

 

We are using these a lot, now that I am busy nursing a newborn,

so I will probably be changing a few of them up every month.

 

 Busy box storage

Felt box- Large pieces in different colors to use as backgrounds

and lots of shapes cut out of a number of colors.

 

Foam Stickers- Foam sheets cut into different sizes to use as background

and a wide variety of foam stickers.

Imagination Box- I created this box because my daughter would get out an entire container of beads, all the pom poms, the box of pipe cleaners, etc. and then only use a couple to complete whatever activity she was working on.  I spent a lot of time asking her to clean up and trying to help her sort everything again.  I decided to just make a box that had a little bit of everything.  So now she can use whatever she wants for her activity and clean up is much easier because it all goes back into one box without needing separated.

Jewelry Box- All of her jewelry and some hair stuff.

 

Playdoh Box- A few different colors of playdoh, cookie cutters, small rolling pin,

some rocks, beads, and clothes pins.

 

Desert Box- Oatmeal with dried strawberries and her desert toob toys.

 

 Rice Box- Neon rainbow rice and she has added some sparkly tinsel stuff.

 

Investigation Box- Binoculars, magnifying glass, petri dish, spoon, and tweezers.  I switch out things for her to look out.  Right now we just have toys from her insect toob.  Some other things I have put in there are leaves/flowers, rocks, sea shells, textured paper, variety of crackers, multi-colored glass rocks, pom poms, cotton balls,and scraps of material.

 

Space Box- Space flash cards and glow in the dark stars and planets.

Lacing Box- Dr. Seuss theme and bears

Puppet Box- Our home made puppets

Doodle Box- I swap things out of here pretty often.  Right now it is holding her aqua doodle.  Other things I have put in here are blank paper, lined paper, small coloring books, activity or maze sheets, markers, crayons, colored pencils, stamps, small stamp pad, and scratch art sheets.

Ball Box

 

Food Box- This box always has her play food.  Sometimes I add her play dishes so she can cook and serve.  Other times I add the cash register and some play money so she can play market.

 

Tracks-  This "box" is under her bed because it doesn't fit on the shelves.  She has some hot wheel tracks and a long tube.  Right now the box holds cars to race down the tracks but other times it has balls or large round beads.

Leap Frog Box- Leapster, games, Tag jr., and books.

 

Tag Reader Box- Tag reader pen, books, human body study, solar system study,

and world map (not pictured).

 

 

Read-a-long Box- Cd player, head phones, books and cds.