Oh I am SOOOOOOOOO EXCITED about this post! These are soooo fun and EASY to make!
Have you ever made a Busy Book/ Quiet Book/ Activity Book? They are time consuming and EXPENSIVE! I made one 2 years ago, I probably put $60 into it and I only got 10 pages. (I have a habit of taking things to the extreme! I wanted it really cool, and it was!) Anyways once a book is done you can't add more pages, you have to wait until you have enough ideas to fill a second book, and I wasnt ready to pick up that challenge again. And in the past 2 years, Kaiden has chewed on the pages and lost pieces. Its quite a sad book now! =(
Well, we are embarking on a crazy long road trip this weekend and I wanted some new and special activities to keep our "Busy man" B-U-S-Y!! I saw an idea on pinterest to use a cookie sheet as a magnet board for meal planning and...... LIGHTBULB! So I headed to the Dollar Store, because after the abuse the book got, I was going CHEAP on this project! It's great because I found a TON of things I could slap magnets on to work for Kaiden's "Busy Board!" I even justified the little money I spent, saying that after the trip I could make a fun tote bag and use it for church! And when Jaxton is old enough I can buy him his own $1 magnet board and they can share the activities!!
p.s. If anyone of you EVER make this, please take pics and share with me!!! I'm now obsessed about finding all kinds of new things to add magnets to for games and play with the magnet board!!!
It's a 3D Shrek Popsicle Stick Puzzle! I chose to do it this way because I figured it would be easier, but I'm thinking the 3D idea made it 10x harder. lol. Next time I'll do a solid picture! Hey, at least he can grow into it and the 3D pics are pretty fun to look at!
Here is what I used to make the Shrek Popsicle Stick Puzzle. Also the Magnet Sheets are what I used on most everything to follow! (3D "poster"- $1, Jumbo Popsicle Sticks 75 Count- $2, Magnet Sheet- $2.) For all the projects I made, I maybe used 3/4 of 1 sheet, the pack comes with 2! It's also great because it's liek a giant sticker, so for most of these activities you can just peel and stick! EASY!
A super easy puzzle! Because it goes in no particular order! I got this fun kids puzzle from le Dollar Store! I used a 1x1 in square from the magnet sheet on the back of each piece.
I tried not to let Kaiden play too much with any of these activities because I wanted them to all be NEW but my curiosity got the better of me. I had to know if Kaiden would appreciate some of these activities!! And it looks like he did!
One of the BEST things about the magnet board is you can buy a sticker sheet and immediatley have a new "Playset!" I reccommend get the "puffy" stickers because they are thicker and plastic! I got these stickers from the $ Store, but I've seen stickers at Wal-mart for $1 as well! I just placed the stickers on white cardstock and cut them out, then I placed a small piece of magnet from the magnet sheet on each of them.
You can also find fun magnets and use them! I got these from the $ Store, but you can also get the plastic Numbers or Letters from Wal-Mart for the same price. I like this because it can help Kaiden with his numbers, obviously the math will come much later!
Here are more stickers! Kaiden loves Monster Trucks so I thought I'd better get them for him!
Then I thought he would need a background for his Monster Trucks! I made this in like 2 minutes, don't judge on the bad quality, lol. I just used construction paper and slid it into a plastic sheet protector!
This is the EASY Fishing Game! I bought 2 of these fishing games at the $ Store, because I worried about the poles breaking easily and because I wanted 6 of the "fish." I attached a magnet from my fridge (I have the kind that look like Push Pins!) and hot glued it to the "hook." Also I used a small strip from the magnetic sheet on top of each "fish" to "hook" them! 
This is the HARD fishing game. I guess he can grow into it. This is my fave game to play!!!! It's also nice to have 2 poles, because then you can make a game of "who can catch the most fish" with another player!
I used puffy fish stickers from wal-mart, $1! Then I hot glued a small piece from the magnet sheet to each fish's mouth and a really small piece on the backs of each fish to keep them from sliding around. 
For a "splurge" I used those small, circular, ultra strong magnets and hot glued them to the bottom of Hot Wheels! Actually I didn't have to do much "splurging" because I had these all on hand, but if you were to run to the store the Hot Wheels are maybe $0.88 at wal-mart and the super strong magnets maybe $3 from Wal-Mart.
I let Kaiden play with them jsut for a second to see if the effort was worth it and he LOVED it! He lined up the cars and said they were "kissing!" lol. Also ignore that goos egg on his forehead, he tripped the other day on some cement, and his head broke his fall!
Here was a last minute buy, Circus Puffy Stickers! Ta, da a new playset!!! These pieces are kind of small, but Kaiden picked them out and reallllllly wanted them. So for $1 I caved! lol.
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Here are some other ideas I may use in the future!
Leap Frog Fridge Farm Magnetic Animal Set- I reallllllly want this for a BIG SPLURGE! It's about $15 from Amazon.com and you match up the fronts and backs of the animals and it make fun animal noises, it's SUPER CUTE and ALL magnetic!!!
FREE Preschool Printables from the blog Preschool Printables!!! I especially love the Super Heroes! Just print, laminate and add a strip from the magnet sheet!
Have you ever thought ofg all the FUN things you could do with Paint Chips? Here's one, make color matching cards! You could also cut out different shapes for a shape matching game! Idea from Impressyourkids.org!
You could even use paint chips to make a faux Candyland Game! Idea from Impressyourkids.org!
Paint Chips Color Matching Game!!!! From the blog The Rigneys! (You could even buy large buttons and have a fun color matching game of it!)
Yo Gabba Gabba Car Bingo!!! The blog My Delicious Ambiguity has LOTS of other Car Bingo, Travel Games, and Busy Bag Activities that can be amde magnetic!!
Felt Mr. & Mrs. Potato Heads! How fun are these!?!?!? One day when I have more time! I would probably suggest laminated paper instead. Idea from the blog Here In the Waiting Place!
Homemade Snickers from
Smores Pancakes from
Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Marshmallow Cream Filling from 
Chocolate Marshmallow Fluff Cupcakes from 
And of course, to top some delicious Hot Chocolate! Photo courtesy of 
Then, I cut my thin color strips! I cut mine about 2.5 in. x 9 in. The tops and bottoms I cut on the 45 degree angle on my mat! 
You will also need to cut a few robot squares in 6.5 in. x 6.5 in. squares. Then cut them in half diagonally. (You'll see why you need these in the next picture!)
This is how I planned my first quilt strip to look! (The tops and bottoms of each strip will have the cut squares!) 
Here is the frist quilt strip (sewn) compared to the second quilt strip, going the opposite way (and not yet sewn.) You will repeat this pattern back and forth to get the chevron stripes going!
When sewing your quilt strips, depending on which strip you're sewing, you may need to overlap a 1/4 inch before you sew!
Once all your quilt strips are sewn, this is how you'll assemble the blanket!
This was my finished product! I added a 1 inch thick, black border and then added the yellow triangle trim! LOVE IT!!!