Click here to read 6 DIY Busy Bins for Easy Quiet Time Activities for Kids on Hands On As We Grow®
Are your children always looking for something to do? Find an independent play solution with a DIY Busy Bins tutorial from Alisha!
Busy Bins are great go-to activities for quiet time, pretend play, learning skills, and theme-based fun.
They can be very simple or more complex, but that choice is totally up to you based on the age and interests of your child.
One beautiful thing about busy bins is that once they are assembled, they’re ready to go.
6 DIY Busy Bins for Easy Quiet Time Activities for Kids
Choosing Your DIY Busy Bins
The first step is to gather the bins that you will be using to keep everything together.
I chose these storage bins (affiliate link) because they are big enough to hold all the items I used. They are also sturdy and stackable.
Once you have your bins, you are ready to choose your activities and fill them up.
Discover more quiet time activities for preschoolers!
Build Your DIY Busy Bins
The next step is to choose the activities to put in the bins. You should pick items that will make these successful busy bins for your child.
Feel free to copy these ideas exactly, tweak them a little, or totally create your own!
I decided to add in some theme-based play to our busy bins. Each bin has a specific theme.
This made it easier for me to choose activities to include in the bins. The built-in organization also makes it easier for my children to differentiate between each bin.
I found my activity items on Amazon, in various stores, and some at garage sales. You definitely don’t have to include all of the items I’ve shared below.
I actually started our busy bins by searching through what I already had and placing the things I found in the bins.
Busy Bin 1: Mickey Mouse
This busy bin is all about Mickey Mouse themed activities! I included Mickey items of all sorts: stickers, puzzles, books, and pretend play ideas.
We picked Mickey, but you can go with the favorite cartoon character at your house. Just select a few different character-themed items.
You could also rotate different items in and out of your busy box. Stash anything that’s off-cycle out of sight to keep things novel when you refresh the busy bin.
Our Activities Included:
- Mickey Mouse Book
- Dancing Mickey Mouse from a birthday card
- Mickey stickers, paper, and markers
- Mickey Mouse Clock Puzzle (affiliate link)
- Disney Stamp Set (affiliate link)
- Mickey Sound Puzzle (affiliate link)
- Mickey Magnetic Puzzle (affiliate link)
Busy Bin 2: Letters and Words
This fun busy bin includes items to practice learning the alphabet, spelling, word recognition, matching, opposites, and rhyming.
We use the letter cards and fly swatter as a game. I lay three cards face down and when I flip them over, I say a letter or sound and they swat the correct card.
I also included two sets of the First Words cards because we use them for a matching game.
Our Activities Included:
- Curious George ABC Book
- Letter flashcards with a fly swatter
- Spelling Puzzle (affiliate link)
- 2 Sets of First Words Cards (affiliate link)
- Matching Train Rhymes & Opposites (affiliate link)
- Water Wow Letters Book (affiliate link)
- Phonics Speller Station (affiliate link)
Busy Bin 3: Vehicles
This busy bin is everything vehicles! Driving around toy cars and trucks on pretend roads is great hand-eye coordination practice.
My children love this bin because they usually make a whole pretend city using all of the vehicles and road signs.
Here are 35 great transportation activities for preschoolers.
Our Activities Included:
- Vehicle and transportation books
- Vehicle stickers, paper, and stamps (affiliate link)
- Water Wow Vehicles book (affiliate link)
- Vehicles Puzzle (affiliate link)
- Wooden Vehicles and Road Signs (affiliate link)
- Stack and Count Garage (affiliate link)
Busy Bin 4: Numbers and Counting
Work on all sorts of number and early math skills with this busy bin!
Your kids will focus on number recognition, counting, one-to-one correspondence, number formation, and number games.
We have played dominoes together and some introductory card games like Go Fish, War, and Slap Jack. However, my children entertain themselves with both of these items as well.
Check out this fun card counting math game.
Our Activities Included:
- Counting book
- Dominoes
- Self-correcting Counting Puzzle (affiliate link)
- Large Playing Cards (affiliate link)
- Water Wow Numbers (affiliate link)
- Number puzzle (affiliate link)
- Big Button Number Fun (affiliate link)
Busy Bin 5: Fine Motor
This busy bin includes activities for fine motor practice with rubber bands, building, lacing, object manipulation, cutting, taping, and coloring.
This bin is full of so many wonderful activities and each strengthens fine motor muscles and encourages concentration.
My daughter loves using the wooden beads to make a giant necklace.
Our Activities Included:
- Coloring book and crayons
- Lace and Trace Cards (affiliate link)
- Tape and Scissor Skills Books (affiliate link)
- Geoboard and rubber bands (affiliate link)
- Wooden Lacing Beads (affiliate link)
- Magnetic Shapes (affiliate link)
- Etch-A-Sketch (affiliate link)
- Magnetic Personality (affiliate link)
Busy Bin 6: Shapes
Pull out this busy bin and your kids will dive into everything shapes! From sorting to naming, these activities are great for independent play.
The Smart Shapes and Shape with Color Sorter can also incorporate patterns, counting, and super stacking. My son really enjoys stacking the pegs as high as he can.
My children are young, so the shapes booklet is an activity that we do together, but it would be suitable for independent work for older children.
These 10 great shape activities are perfect for toddlers.
Our Activities Included:
- Shape books
- Sticker Shapes Booklet (affiliate link)
- Smart Shapes Stacker (affiliate link)
- Shapes puzzle (affiliate link)
- Shape Sorting Bucket (affiliate link)
- Shape and Color Sorter (affiliate link)
Using Your DIY Busy Bins:
Use your DIY busy bins however you please!
The important thing for successful Busy Bins is to teach your child how to properly use the activities in the busy bins before they work independently.
I recommend encouraging them to use one activity at a time. Let them know they should clean up one activity before moving on to another.
You may find it best to only provide your child with one activity from the bin at a time.
Since neither of my children take naps any longer, we use our bins for our special quiet time.
The bins are on a rotation schedule, so a different bin is assigned to each day. On day seven it is a “your choice” day for them to choose from any of the bins.
The busy bins can also be used as a teaching tool, for a “boredom buster” when your child is wandering around looking for something to do, or as a quick go-to activity to do together.
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