Need a no-fuss, screen-free activity to keep toddlers entertained? I’m sharing 14 easy themes for busy bins and busy bags!

Busy bins and busy bags are a great way to help toddlers learn to play independently, excercise their creativity, and give you a little time for yourself.

Our oldest was 2 and a half when her baby sister was born. One thing I had forgotten about newborns is that they eat a lot!

Nursing my newborn for what felt like hours each day kept me stuck in one place, and my toddler, took full advantage of the situation by getting into allll kinds of mischief.

I learned right away to keep her occupied with a good snack or a quiet activity!

Busy bins and busy bags are one of those quiet activities. It’s really easy to put a busy bin or busy bag together and foster those exploration moments that keeps toddlers’ minds and hands active and learning.

The New Activity Playbook!

Looking for an organized guide of fun, easy activities to do with your toddler that also encourages their growth and development?

I’ve created a 3-month activity planner just for busy parents like you! The plan includes 65 detailed, simple, and stress-free activities including: arts and crafts, sensory play, motor skills, and STEM–all using easy-to-find supplies.

Let me help make planning activities for your toddler easy, so you can skip the stress and get straight to the fun!

CHECK IT OUT!

What’s a Busy Bin?

A busy bin, or quiet box, is a container of toys or special items for kids to tinker with, play with, and explore.

They’re quick to put together and easy to customize to your child’s interests and abilities.

I get that you need to keep your kids busy because you feel stressed about all the stuff you need to get done today. That’s why my mission is to…
1. Find fun, quality kids’ activities and show you step by step how to do them.
2. Save you time and energy by using supplies from around the house or show you where to easily get them.
3. Inspire you to be creative and play with your kids in new and exciting ways.

How I Made Our Busy Bins

We always have several clear bins with lids on hand, so I filled them with stuff I thought Ella would enjoy.

I use the same bins for toy rotation, and interestingly, the way we categorize our stored toys automatically turns them into busy bins, with the addition of a couple extra things to enhance the items in the boxes!

Now, she is still so young that she needs some supervision with these things, but that just makes it all the more exciting for her to play with!

Busy Bin Themes

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Here are a few of the busy bin themes that we’ve used:

1. Play dough bin: Lots of different colors of play dough, a rolling pin, a few cookie cutters, two little plates, a tiny fork, a tiny plastic knife, a Play Doh spaghetti maker and Play Doh waffle maker from this set
2. Play doctor busy bin: little stuffed animals, DIY play stethoscope, felt band-aids, notebook, crayon, toy otoscope
3. Color sorting bin: Pom poms, colored lids, colored plastic eggs, colored plastic bowls from Ikea, little tongs
4. Sensory bin: Popcorn kernels, buttons, a small rake, plastic measuring cups, plastic measuring spoons, a few different sized cups (This one requires more supervision than the others.)
5. Sticker art bin: Tons of stickers, colored paper, crayons
6. Cooking bin: Melissa and Doug wooden food toys, plastic bowls and spoons, two little stainless steel pots; on top of the bin is a set of four burners that I printed and taped onto the lid so Ella can “cook” on it; see more play kitchen ideas here
7. Cars and ramps bin: Three matchbox cars and paper towel tubes cut in half lengthwise to make roads and bridges
8. Recyclables tinker bin: Clean recyclables, such as egg cartons, plastic bottles, and lids; it’s amazing what toddlers can come up to do with this stuff
9. Animal habitats bin: Animal figurines, popsicle sticks, fake flowers and greenery

Each of these bins make the perfect screen-free activity to entertain my toddler while I’m nursing, cooking dinner, writing, cleaning…

Or when I just don’t want to play with baby dolls for the 500th time in a row!

And what about busy bags?

I bought these zip-top, clear pencil pouch cases in September when school stuff is crazy cheap. I like pencil pouches like these that are small and skinny enough to toss into any of my bags.

I only have three bags, so I typically rotate the activities in there.

These pencil pouches are much, much sturdier than a plastic zip-top bag, and hold up well to travel.

Here are some pencil pouches similar to mine. I bought mine in September so there were tons to choose from!

 6 Travel-Size Busy Bags

1. Art Bag
This has crayons, a small notebook, stickers, and origami paper. I’ll admit, the origami paper is mostly for me. I fold it into a crane or fish and give it to Ella to play with when I’m done. There are some mini activity/coloring books that I’m thinking about adding to this kit.

2. Counting/Sorting Busy Bag
This one has pipe cleaners and those colored lids from baby food pouches (never throw those away! They are fun manipulatives for a water table, sensory bin, stringing on a necklace, etc.). She can string the lids on the pipe cleaner, sort them by color, make patterns, and count them. Sometimes she’ll even stack the lids!

3. Matching Letters and Alphabet Game Bag
We have this Go Fish Alphabet game with baby and mommy animals. I put some of those cards and matching magnet letters in this travel busy bag.

Ella can match the babies with their mommies and the letters with the letters on the cards.

We also play memory with these cards too, since she’s too young to play Go Fish as the game was intended.

Quick tip: make sure all the magnet letters actually go with the letters on the cards and that every baby has a matching mommy. Otherwise you might get a meltdown that defeats the purpose of pulling out this kit to begin with!

4. Play Doctor Busy Bag
Ella loves Doc McStuffins, so we of course have to have a travel doctor kit. This one has DIY felt bandages, a DIY stethoscope, a Doc otoscope, and Big Book of Boo-Boos (spiral notebook with a heart on it).

5. Cars and Roads Busy Bag
The pencil pouches came with white cardboard inserts. I kept them, of course, and drew roads and parking spaces on one. This drawing fits neatly in the bag with four, flat little cars.

6. Puzzles Busy Bag
We don’t have many small puzzles, but I plan on getting some of the ones at the bottom of this post! The ones we do have, like the six-piece one shown above, fit very nicely in a pencil pouch like this. It’s so much easier to store puzzles this way than in the boxes that they come in!

Your Turn: Make a Busy Bin or Busy Bag

Customize your own busy bin or busy bag based on your kids’ interests and abilities.

What do they like to do or play with?

Put that in a box. Add a couple things that might encourage them to play with those things in creative ways. For example, adding fake leaves and flowers to a box of animal toys might encourage kids to create habitats and play “farm” or “zoo.”

Voila! Instant busy bin.

Tips to Keep Playtime Fresh and Easy

1. Rotate the available bins. Do this the same way you would toy rotation.
2. Limit playtime with busy bins to certain times of day. Like while you make dinner or have to nurse a little one.
3. Let them have the freedom to use the things in the bins however they would like. There’s no right or wrong way to play!
4. Help kids develop the habit of cleaning up when they’re done with one bin before taking out another.
5. Some kids play better when they can take the bins out by themselves. Put busy bins in an accessible location and keep choking hazards out of these bins just in case they get taken out when you’re not watching.

Share Your Thoughts

Will you make busy bins or busy bags? Do you already use them with your kids? Comment below and share your favorite busy bins or busy bags.

You can also snap a pic and share on Instagram. Just tag @entertainyourtoddler and hashtag #entertainyourtoddler

The New Activity Playbook!

Looking for an organized guide of fun, easy activities to do with your toddler that also encourages their growth and development?

I’ve created a 3-month activity planner just for busy parents like you! The plan includes 65 detailed, simple, and stress-free activities including: arts and crafts, sensory play, motor skills, and STEM–all using easy-to-find supplies.

Let me help make planning activities for your toddler easy, so you can skip the stress and get straight to the fun!

CHECK IT OUT!