"How do we occupy our preschoolers while we're doing school with our older children?" is a cry heard from homeschooling mothers around the globe. Preschool Activities in a Bag meets that challenge head on! This 120-page laminated, coil-bound book is well worth its $21.95 retail price. This book provides specific instructions, materials lists, masters, and helpful hints to make up 34 different activity bags for your preschooler. Bags cover such skills as matching, ordering, color recognition, left-right awareness, artistic creation, hand-eye coordination, and more. Each activity in the book has been assembled by a test mom and tested by at least 25 preschoolers. In fact, the authors included a couple of sample bags in my review packet, and my preschooler loved them!

The authors of this book go the extra mile by sharing specifics and including resources for a bag swap. A swap allows a group of moms to save time while receiving several activity bags at once. Each mom makes several of one bag and then swaps with the other group members. This allows you to purchase and prepare for ONE activity while receiving the number of bags as moms who participate. If 20 moms participate in your swap, you'll end up with 20 different activity bags. The details included in the swap directions make it virtually foolproof. The authors cover everything from setting dates to the follow-up meeting and include a participation form listing who will provide which activity and a sample cover letter for participants.

While some of the activities might be difficult to purchase or find the necessary items for if you were making just one bag, there are many that would work for even one. However, I see the real benefit of this book being used in a group setting to meet the needs of many at once. This would be a great addition to your next homeschool support group meeting.

-- Product Review by Dena Wood, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, December 2005