Busy / Nursing Boxes

Sophie and I have been together all day, just about every day since she was born.  It is always me and her.  She'll even tell you now that it is just "me and you" when we talk about Brandon being at work.  We are both so used to it.  One thing I worry about for when baby boy comes in about a month is my attention being drawn from always on Sophie to sharing that with our newborn.  I fear she may not handle it well.  In order to aid in this, I decided to create activity boxes to use for when I really am not able to be hands-on with Sophie.  I've been calling them Busy Boxes or Nursing Boxes (since I'm sure that most of them will be used while I'm feeding baby boy).  I have 5 put together, using different ideas found online and through resources found at different stores.  This is what I came up with...

Box #1:

Box #1

Contains:

• bath toy of fish that she can use as a puzzle (Dollar Tree)
• 2 large simple foam puzzles (already had)
• what is designed to be a paint cup with some fake coins to put in and take out of the hole on top (both from Target $1 Spot)
• a plastic Slinky (Target $1 Spot)
• foam hands to match the colors (Target $1 Spot)
• Pipe Cleaner Shape matching - only 4 shapes with pipe cleaners
• Wooden house puzzle (Dollar Tree)
• Cinderella Play Pack - contains a small coloring book, stickers, and crayons (Dollar Tree)
• wooden noise maker (which I may end up removing from the box depending on how it goes in use)  (Dollar Tree)

 Box #2:

Box #2

Contains:

• Foam flowers with alphabet stickers.  Makes it easy to reuse the stickers. (Target $1 Spot)
• Magnetic shapes (in red zipper bag).  Also have a small metal cookie sheet for these (not pictured). (Both from Dollar Tree)
• 2 large simple foam puzzles (already had)
• Wooden train puzzle (Dollar Tree)
• Jonah and the Whale pop-up book (Dollar Tree)
• 4 soft balls, which are actually water balls but soft enough for inside play without water (Dollar Tree)

 Box #3:

Box #3

Contains:

• 2 large simple foam puzzles (already had)
• Pipe Cleaner beading (Believe I got this idea somewhere online but can't find the source! Please let me know if you know where it originated.)
• Sesame Street Book (Target $1 Spot)
• Heads and Tails matching - in packet for Brown Bear Printables
• 4 small board puzzles (Dollar Tree)
• Sponge Blocks 

Box #4:

I call this the Princess Box

Box #4

Contains:

• Foam Disney princess puzzle pieces (Dollar Tree)
• Erasers (Dollar Tree)
• pink dice (Target $1 Spot)
• Linkable plastic jewelry (Dollar Tree)
• Light with interchangeable pictures to shine (Target $1 Spot)
• Princess Play Pack - contains small coloring book, stickers, and crayons (Dollar Tree)

 Box #5:

Box #5

Contains: 

• 2 large simple foam puzzles (already had)
• Large foam dice (Dollar Tree, I think)
• Foam stars with alphabet stickers (Target $1 Spot)
• Popsicle Stick Matching, but done with felt on the sticks to match to the popsicles since Sophie doesn't read quite yet
• Bubbles (Walmart)
• 4 small board puzzles (Dollar Tree)
• Noah's Ark pop-up book (Dollar Tree)

I also really liked this idea I found online of using the matching part from the Transportation Preschool Pack here.  I printed out the matching pages, laminated them, cut them out, then used fabric glue to glue onto a manilla folder (which worked fabulously).  I then added velcro so that the pieces wouldn't get lost when it's not in use.  It turned out great and Sophie has already spent some time with it.  Here is the final outcome of it:

Transportation Matching

The boxes I used to put the stuff into I picked up at Walmart for just under $1 each.  They are small boxes I think intended for shoe storage, but they are a great size for this.  Plus, Sophie will be able to play with the box itself since she's still in that phase (at least for now).  As you can see, I picked up most of it at the Dollar Tree or Target's Dollar Spot.  I did not want to spend a lot of money on these boxes, but wanted to find activities that Sophie could work on for 30 minutes or so.  She has actually played with everything in the boxes, just to make sure she knows what to do with them.  I didn't want to have her asking for help with everything when I was trying to give her activities to do alone with me nearby unable to help.  That would defeat the purpose.  She has such a great memory that I don't think she'll have a problem remembering what to do.  She may even find a new use for them since her imagination is coming out.

I can change what is in the boxes later, as she outgrows activities or just gets bored with them.  I feel really good about starting with these, though.  I also have the Velcro Busy Book I made Sophie as an activity.  There are numerous other activities she has to do around the house that we do fairly regularly.  I only intend to use the boxes if she doesn't seem interested in activities she's done on numerous occasions.  The special part of these boxes are that they are not for regular play time.  They are special treats she gets when I'm not available for hands-on play.  I think they will greatly come in handy and I am so glad they are put together.  I'm excited to see her playing with them!