Item of the Week: BROWN PAPER BAG!

This week's Item of the Week...

​It’s as simple as an old-school brown paper lunch bag. It’s also something we’ve kept on-hand in my home since I was a kid. We STILL keep a regular supply of plain ole’ inexpensive, cheap brown paper bags. They are just so versatile! Here are various, fun ways we use them.

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Not only do we still use them for lunches in the park on beautiful spring afternoons, but they have supplied an array of fun, hands-on activities in our homeschool, too! Below are some ideas on how you, too, can let the fun begin with a simple brown paper bag.
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1. Five Senses Game - we’ve taken turns placing one single, ordinary, household item in a brown paper bag, taken turns putting one hand in the bag with our eyes closed, and attempted to guess what the object was.
   
   
2. Show-and-Tell - what better way to “standardize” everyone’s surprise for show-and-tell than to hand out brown paper bags for each student to present their item in! Works wonders, too. It’s even more fun when the kids decorate the outsides of the bags prior to placing their item inside. Oooooh, such fun suspense!
   
   
3. Trick-O-Treat - brown bags make excellent classroom trick-o-treat bags. We used to decorate our bags with a halloween theme and tape the bag open to the sides of our desks for classmates to pass out treats in each bag. Sweet, inexpensive fun!
   
   
4. Puppets - depending on the animal you choose, brown bags can be decorated in the shape of an animal puppet, using the bottom fold/flap as the mouth. You could draw the animal face on the very bottom of the bag, then draw or add on cut-out ears, arms, feet, maybe even a tail. ​

Even if you don't already have or keep brown paper bags in your home or school, fret not. Just be sure to pick up a bag of plenty the next time you're at your local grocer. The activities to create with them are endless, and you never know when your inspiration to create will fall upon you. Better safe than sorry, right? Enjoy! :)

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