Fun Foam Shapes {toddler busy-bag activity}

Teaching the Alphabet to Toddlers and Pre-schoolers

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Before I had my baby, I started stocking up on home-made toddler "busy bags"-- things that I could pull out to keep my toddler entertained for a while to give me a little break. This bag of foam shapes was very simple to put together, doesn't make much of a mess, and he enjoys playing with it. I also like this activity because it can grow with him. Once he is older he can put the shapes together to make things like houses or trees, or whatever he can come up with-- um, that is, if he doesn't eat them first (you may notice a few of our shapes have been nibbled a little).

Materials:

a few sheets of "funny foam" in various colors

sharpie or ball-point pin

scissors

cups or round objects for tracing

bowl of water

To get started, I traced some different sizes of circles onto the foam and cut them out. Then I cut out some squares, triangles, and rectangles-- I didn't draw any lines for those because they don't need to be perfect. You can cut out any shapes that you want, I just wanted some simple ones to teach him the names of basic shapes.

I keep all of these shapes in a zip-lock bag and whenever he wants to play with them I fill up a bowl with water for him to use. When you dip the shapes in the water they will stick to the window!

They will stick to any slick surface like glass or tile so they are also great to play with in the bathtub, or you can let your kid stick them to a mirror or shower door while you are getting ready in the bathroom!