5-Minute Peek-A-Boo Bags

Today I broke out the melt beads (we have the Pyssla beads from Ikea) right after lunch.  My 4-year old loves the thought of doing melt bead crafts, but he doesn't have the patience or fine dexterity to really do this craft without a complete meltdown.  Very quickly our craft turned into an archaeological dig with him hiding tiny toys in the bin.  So instead of making the traditional coaster, keychain, or ornament we made a very simple Peek-A-Boo bag.  What's a Peek-A-Boo bag?  It's a little quiet activity that lets your little one find treasures hidden in a bag.  They can smoosh and shake the bag to uncover their lost items.  There are plenty of places to buy fancier versions or you can easily sew one together.  This is the preschooler-can-do-it-theirself version all in 5 minutes without sewing or glueing!

Age: 4+ (old enough not to open the bag and dump it all over the floor or car)
Mess/Cleanup: So NOT messy!  2 minutes cleanup, unless the beads get knocked over.
Time: 5 minutes + play time
What You Need:

• Ziplock Bag (we used a quart size with a slider lock)
• Beads (we used the Pyssla beads from Ikea, but you can also use any kind of pealer-type bead, pony beads, uncooked rice, or dried beans)
• A variety of tiny treasures.  I had my son do a little scavenger hunt to find tiny toys and items.  We ended up with a penny, paperclip, tiny frog, super ball, foam triangle, and a car.  Anything you get from a little vending machine would work perfect.  Just make sure it's not pointy.

Why I Like This Craft:
I always like a craft that can double as an activity.  You can always add new treasures into the bag so the experience always changes.  You can make 2 identical bags and race who can find a selected treasure first. 

Step 1:
Find treasures and place in bag.

Step 2:
Dump a bunch of beads into bag.  Enough to cover and completely hide all items.

Step 3:
Zip it up and play!  Our tricky treasure was the paperclip.  It took my son about 5 minutes to uncover.

That's it!  It's really easy to turn Saturdays into a lazy day to watch TV.  Taking 30 minutes to get out from behind the TV and make a simple craft gives you a little more quality time with your kids.

-Rose @-}---

P.S. From Nancy:
We made some with black beans and it was fantastic! 

Stuff for the bags

Finished black bean bag