Busy baskets: using common, every day items to create fun, educational and fine motor activities.

There are still two weeks left of summer break here, but I’m starting to get things ready for the Hooligans’ return. I made our story stones the other day, a really fun and easy project, and I know they’ll be popular.

I’ve also found some neat stuff at thrift shops and yard sales this summer. I sorted through, and organized them last night, and I’ve displayed them on a table just outside the toy-room door, where the Hooligans will see them in all their glory, as they’re going down the stairs. I thought for a minute about what I could call these collections of treasury-goodness, and came up with “busy-baskets”.

We won’t spend a great deal of time inside in the fall, so the baskets won’t likely get a lot of use until the weather gets colder, but until then, they’ll be great for rainy days and quiet time.

So, without further ado, here are the busy-baskets!

Glass beads with tongs and a small scoop. The silk bag that I added has a fairly small opening, providing a challenging but fun activity for little hands. It’s a great sensory activity too: the silky, slippery softness of the bag, and the smooth, cold, beads rattling around in the basket. Love it!

A couple of months ago, at an auction sale, my mom found a huge (about 10000) collection of vintage buttons. I felt like a kid in a candy store when I was sifting through them, and washing them up. One of my favourite childhood memories is playing with a basket of buttons at my Nana’s house. I love the way they feel when you slither your hand through a pile of them, and the soft clicking and clinking sounds they make. They’re a favourite of mine for crafting and for sensory activities. Anyway, my mom, knowing my love for buttons, picked the collection up for a steal. Aren’t they pretty?

We’ll use many of them for crafting, but I thought a busy-basket of buttons would be fun, and I added a scoop and a couple of small glass jars for filling.

Coloured glass beads are an all time favourite here. I’m not kidding, hundreds of hours have been spent, playing with these over the years. The hooligans’ favourite bead activity is filling muffin and tart tins, but we also use them in sensory bins and for decorating play-doh. I placed a bowl-full beside the buttons for scooping and filling the little jars.

Another second-hand find this summer, these little wicker vehicles can hold treasures too.

A basket of assorted hardware: chains, nuts, bolts, clips etc. I just rummaged through our tool boxes and came up with bits and pieces for little hands to sort and assemble.

A tray of paint chip samples and a pair of scissors develops fine-motor skills when you encourage little ones to cut along the lines. I have to pick up some brighter colours though; we used all of the brights and pastels when we were crafting for Easter.

Miniatures are always popular with little people, so when I saw this assortment of tiny copper vessels for A BUCK, I didn’t hesitate. Gotta love thrift shops!

And, of course, we have the story stones!

And there you go! Busy-Baskets: simple, inexpensive activities to keep little hands and minds busy!

I tend to get a little carried away with the Christmas crafts at this time of year! Last year, we set out to make a different tree ornament every day in the month leading up to Christmas. By the time the holidays rolled around, the Hooligans had made enough ornaments that parents were joking that their trees were starting to lean over under the weight of them all. We had a ton of fun making them and they’re all beautiful enough to be displayed with pride. Sadly, there were pictures that are somehow missing in action, but here are some of our Christmas crafts that will hopefully inspire.

simple enough for even the littlest fingers, thread beads onto a metallic pipe-cleaner, and bend into a Chrstmas tree

Cut 2 mittens from felt. Glue a cotton ball to the cuffs. Decorate with buttons and join mitts with a piece of wool.

Paper Mache Gingerbread houses made from juice/milk cartons and colourful foam bits.

Gingerbread Man – I don’t think this needs explaining.

I Spy Ornament: My very favourite! Fill a plastic ornament (I got these at Michael’s) with artificial snow and tiny objects (lego, paperclips, beads, buttons), and attach an I Spy List. So pretty and so fun for little ones.

tissue paper and toilet roll poinsettia ornament

Poinsettias: wrap a toilet roll with red paper and then cut into 5 pieces about 1 inch thick. Flatten them out to get petal shape. Glue tissue paper to tops and let dry. Hot glue petals together and top with a button.together at center. Glue some artificial leaves to the back. We added glitter glue to the petals as well.

foam and popsicle stick snowman ornament

Snowman sticks: I had a foam snowman craft kit so we used the hats, noses and scarves from that, and glued them onto popsicle sticks that we’d painted white. Add some eyes and some buttons and you’re done.

Candy house: Cut house and roof from cardboard and cover with cardstock. Decorate with colourful buttons, ribbon and foam bits.

Cut cardboard stars and wrap with wool, securing with hot glue.

toilet roll nativity set - christmas craft

These were the biggest hit of the season last Christmas. I made a set for each Hooligan. Every set had the same cast of characters (Mary Joseph, Baby Jesus in a manger, Wiseman, Angel and Shepherd), but I used different fabrics for each set so everyone’s was unique. Cut toilet roll tubes in varying heights. I covered the face portion with cardstock and the body with scraps of fabric. Decorate with beads, buttons, wool, jewels etc. The manger was a toilet tube cut in half long ways and filled with straw coloured wool. The stable is a shoebox decorated with scrapbook paper. When the kids are finished playing, the characters are kept in the box. These were a ton of fun to make, but stock up on hot glue sticks…I used a LOT!

These were the absolute cutest! Toilet paper tubes covered in quilt batting. Cut hat and scarf from fleece (cinch hat with rubber band and fringe the top). Googly eyes, a felt nose and rosy cheeks.

A few other crafts that we made can be seen here: but I didn’t keep pictures of were:

Star of David: paint 6 popsicle sticks white and glue into a star shape. Once dry, glue sparkly gems on.

Easy Icicles: Have kids thread beads onto a pipecleaner. Bend the top end to form a hook or loop.

Button Wreath: Cut a small wreath out of cardboard and have kids paint it red or green. Glue buttons all around and add a bow.

As I sit here writing this, it’s a warm summer day – kind of hard to get my head around Christmas!