Some great quiet books

I'm kind of a sucker for things that keep my kids' interest and require little effort on my part. After reading a post over at All For the Boys (a great little blog, by the way), I decided that I'd write a post of low-effort, high-interest quiet books. Here is the one I saw over at All For the Boys this morning:

This one is no-sew!

This one at Homemade Holiday Gifts would take a bit longer, but is all hand-sewn and would keep an older child more engaged.

B-rilliant! A binder, sheet protectors, age-appropriate worksheets, and  dry-erase crayons. It couldn't be any easier than that! Thanks I Am Momma Hear Me Roar!

This one is SUPER cute and, again - no-sew! This would be a great one for doctor's offices and the like as the swish of the velcro may not be welcomed at church. Very cute Kojo designs!

Hope that gives you some good ideas! Interestingly, I learned a few things from this post, as well #1 - apparently some women define "quick and easy" as 3 hours of work.  Wow.  Now more commentary needed.  #2 - Quiet books are HUGE with the Mormons.  Seriously.

Even more busy bag ideas

So, apparently we have been too busy doing to blog about it...or Christmas shop...(ahem)...

Playdough snakes into alphabet letters.

Gluing beans and pasta onto a turkey

Great $2 investment - wooden alphabet beads.  The boys made a necklace after matching the letters in their names

I would never have guessed on this one, but they loved putting on and taking off the nut on these screws so much, it occupied each of them for 30 minutes!

Our paper craft decorations

Another great buy at less than $3 - Trader Joe's Letter and Number cookies.  I had the little guys name the letter or number before they could eat each cookie and it was spelling for Julius.

A Few More Busy Bag Ideas

Moving marbles with a melon baller

Transferring pom poms with tweezers

I added numbers to the bottom of an egg carton and had the boys add the correct number of dried beans

This was kind of a 2-for-1. They had to put the correct number of the correct color beads into each egg

Preschool "Busy Bag" Ideas

I've been trying to look for some ideas to keep the twins engaged while working with Julius during our homeschooling hours.  Coloring just doesn't get it.  It lasts about 15 seconds.  Most of the ideas I've found have come from moms with 1. all girls or 2. no older children.  They just weren't working for us.  I stumbled across a mom at www.littlehandsbigwork.com.  She has LOTS of great stuff for boys and moms with lots o' little ones.  Here are pics of a few ideas we have snagged from her that have bought us some valuable teaching time and made for some very proud little guys!

Sorting by color

They LOVED putting the stickers on the letters!

Can't remember if this was her idea or not! But the boys loved it.

Washers, nails, screws, paper clips, and cut up pipe cleaners in a container with a strong magnet.