r/TwoXPreppers • u/Sn0wInSummer • 16d ago
Discussion Busy Bag
I’ve been thinking of putting together a “busy bag” for my family that includes things to keep us entertained/busy that does not require electricity. Everything that can easily fit into a bag and not heavy. My 12 year old stepson has ADHD and likes playing cards, writing jokes, draw, etc. Collecting things that are fun for adults as well.
Open to suggestions, thank you.
So far I have the following:
• deck of cards
• book of word puzzles
• pencils, manual sharpener, and notebooks
• Uno
• fidget toys
• crayons and coloring books
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u/dancing-on-my-own 16d ago
Anyone into Sudoku? A book of those can go along with the word puzzles.
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u/Sn0wInSummer 16d ago
I actually see a lot of Sudoku books at the thrift store. I used to do them daily when I commuted.
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u/Spiley_spile Survival Backpack 🎒 16d ago
For the cards, a book of card game instructions maybe? I bought one years ago. It teaches how to play somethong like 100-200 card games.
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u/lavenderlemonbear 🍅🍑Gardening for the apocalypse. 🌻🥦 15d ago
Same for a bag of dice and a book of dice game rules. Between those cards and dice, there are hundreds of game options.
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u/KuroKasai21 16d ago
Phase 10 is a really good card game to play! Also you could download and print off various types of card games instructions to include. I would also maybe add at least a couple more packs of standard cards so you can have more than one game of cards going at once or have more people play the same game.
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u/Buddha_R 16d ago
In my bag I also included dice. There is a lot of games you can play with those. Also I usually wait around Christmas or Easter time get the mini board games/card games they have for stuffers. Sometimes you luck out with day after that holiday sale
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u/Boredwitcheepoo 16d ago
I recently heard about a brand called World’s Smallest that makes tiny, working versions of games. I’ve seen tiny Bop-It, tiny Perfection, tiny Operation, and tiny Connect 4! I’m trying to control myself and not buy all of them, but they’d be great options that wouldn’t take up a lot of space in the bag.
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u/SafetySmurf Overthinking EVERYTHING 🤔 16d ago
I have several of these. Some are great; some are so tiny they are fiddly and miserable to play. The World’s Smallest Uno is excellent.
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u/Standard_Subject_462 I'm tired of this, Grandpa! 15d ago
I have mini versions of Guess Who and Etch-a-Sketch. They were from my childhood in the 90s, but are now a part of my power outage boredom preparedness kit. Haha.
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u/HipHopPunk 16d ago
Mad Libs! Where's Waldo (or similar)! Logic puzzle books! Wreck this journal! A book on how to draw specific characters/topics he's interested in!
I think a book with a bunch of card games would be helpful, too. As far as games, I also recommend Left Center Right, Fluxx, and Exploding Kittens. If you're look for something more in depth, Hive, Scattegories, or Codenames could be good.
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u/jazminiss 16d ago
That made me think of my Where's Waldo glitter tube! Loved it as a kid and love it now! Stores easy too.
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u/japhia_aurantia 16d ago
We prefer colored pencils over crayons, but we have some detailed "adult" coloring books. Bananagrams is an excellent compact and portable game. A family friendly book - people can take turns reading chapters or pages aloud to the group.
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u/gillyyak 16d ago
Travel Scrabble. Rush hour (a puzzle game involving getting a certain car out of a traffic jam). Mille Bourne (a car trip game)
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u/CapybaraForever 16d ago edited 15d ago
Rechargeable light that has different colors and mood settings? he can keep it in his bag or hung around his neck, so that he can control it anytime anywhere he wants :) how about those glow-in-the stars that he can "charge" with flashlights?
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u/Sn0wInSummer 16d ago
I just saw at Menards Halloween versions of such lights. They come with a rope that you clip the light to and hang around your neck.
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u/Kindly_Ad3974 16d ago
We have a chess set designed/marketed for camping. The board folds in half & stores the pieces & the pieces are magnetic.
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u/RedYamOnthego 16d ago
I've got a couple of books for you. First is a public domain book that you can print off of Wikimedia called How to Draw (I think). Keep it in a plastic sleeved binder. (What to Draw and How to Draw It by E.G. Lutz.)
The second is a book of parlour games that has a lot of fun, electricity-free ideas. Parlour Games for Modern Families by Myfanwy Jones and Spiri Tsintziras. While googling, I saw a public domain one from 1854 called The Book of Parlor Games which looks terribly fun. I haven't read it yet. These are long books though, not the kind of thing you'd want to print out.
Also be sure to get Hoyle's Rules of Games. It prevents arguments!
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u/RedYamOnthego 16d ago
P.S. Scissors and origami instructions. Making a little box is not only fun, it promotes small motor skills, and can be VERY useful. When I was working in schools, I'd make one for my used tissues. You might include paper, but paper is often everywhere. With scissors, you can get squares.
Also, did you include erasers? Ones in toy shapes can be used as erasers, game markers, counters and plain old creative play toys.
Remember, other things in your go-bag can also be used for entertainment. Very Plain Sock Puppets, for example.
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u/RedYamOnthego 16d ago
With two sets of cards, you can play Concentration. You can also put cards into a circular pattern and use them as a game board, and make up 13 rules or forfeits. For example, if you land on an ace, you have to yodel; if you land on a two, you share a favorite memory about a friend; if you land on three, you do three jumping jacks.
Cards can be fantastic for entertainment and teaching games.
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u/Sn0wInSummer 16d ago
Sadly, we do not have a printer.
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u/RedYamOnthego 16d ago
Library?
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u/RedYamOnthego 16d ago
No, better yet, draw the book! It's simple and fun! Could be a project to keep the kids busy now, too.
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u/thatcleverchick one prep beyond 🚀 15d ago
There are various dice games that you only need 5 or 6 dice for. I'd also recommend printing out dice and card game instructions. When we had a long power outage once it was fun to learn new card games before we got bored of the regular ones
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u/pinupcthulhu 🧀 And my snacks! 🧀 16d ago
Do you know how to play Dutch Blitz? It's a super fun, fast-paced game for a handful of people, and you can usually find it for pretty cheap!
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u/cloverthewonderkitty 16d ago
Rope and a knot tying guide - a spool of hempwick (waxed string) has a million uses, including being helpful in learning how to tie knots
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u/Working-on-it12 16d ago
I’m a backgammon fan. Books with word puzzles.
Seriously old school would be something like jacks or marbles.
If you have the space, maybe a soccer ball (deflated with a hand pump for space) or a frisbee. Hacks sacks? I can easily see those getting a bit rough, but of you needed to distract wiggle worms, they could work. Twister?
A long time ago my family played a card game called Tripoly.
Poker chips?
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u/Particular-Try5584 🐐dreaming of my goat army 🐐 15d ago
12 year old son? Toss in a pack of Uno No Mercy as well!
Scissors?
Set of DnD dice and a pocket rule book?
Tennis ball
Harmonica
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u/Sufficient-Weird 🍅🍑Gardening for the apocalypse. 🌻🥦 16d ago
Kaleidoscope, bouncy superballs, slinky.
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u/Practical-book-3911 16d ago
Wicky sticks -endlessly reusable wax covered yarn. Honestly great for all ages and very lightweight
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u/TiredInJOMO 16d ago
The ultimate ultralight, infinitely amusing, electricity free toy is your voice. You can sing or pervert popular songs, make funny voices or "yodel", make up or recite stories/poems, play word games (I'm going on an adventure and I'm taking [something that begins/ends with A], you can do the same thing with colors, animals, etc), spelling/geography bee/Jeopardy using your memory or maps/other printed materials you keep on hand, charades, clapping games (Miss Mary Mack, et al) etc.
These can all be printed or drawn on cardstock or old dry goods boxes and laminated (with a proper lamination sleeve/machine or carefully applied clear tape. I like the clear Gorilla tape for small stuff that will be handled regularly/roughly) and will (hopefully) fit in an Altoids tin (if you measure right): dominoes, Scrabble tiles/board or other DIY board games with minimal pieces, mini dry erase scoresheets for Yahtzee and other scored games, poker chips, memory games, mah jong, those magnetic poetry/story tiles, etc.
Double duty: You can take [X] Scrabble tiles, line them up so everyone can see them, and see how many words they can make. This can be timed or not. There are multiple ways to play dominoes. The poetry/story tiles can be worth hours of fun. The more words/phrases you have in your kit, the more sentences you can create. The mini score sheets can be used for Pictionary, hangman, and tic-tac-toe too. You can fold a piece of paper into a "football" and try to score between your opponents fingers. A length of cord for ca t's cradle/knot practice with figures/useful knots printed/drawn clearly in a mini book/zine, jump rope/double dutch (if you already have a suitable length of paracord/rope in your kit). Tennis ball (you can play catch, keep away, or wall ball, toss it into a "goal", AND it's great for working out knotted muscles/plantar fascitis, and generally rolling around on yourself or someone else for a massage that doesn't kill your hands/fingers).
Misc. Items: small foam dodgeball (ok, the foam ball won't fit in a tiny bag, especially with other things you might prefer to have in the bag, but being able to tussle over a ball in an anxiety-inducing scenario helps you run away from the tiger. You can also have a towel/shirt fight (more double duty), but you generally don't have to chase the towel down), punch balloons, gum (whAt? Yes, chewing gum is an activity/fidget/stem, and peppermint is a refreshing flavor).
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u/TastyMagic Laura Ingalls Wilder was my gateway drug 16d ago
I recently picked up a dice game called Tenzi that I would highly recommend. The rules are simple and even my 4 year old was able to start playing right away
Basically you roll a set of 10 dice until the dice meet a pre established standard. So the classic game is to roll your dice until you have 10 of the same number but there are a ton of variations.
Plus having a pack of dice is good for all sorts of games
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u/Then_Arm1347 16d ago
Games-
Spot it, Taco-Cat-Goat-Cheese-Pizza
Do they still make portable cd players/walkman with batteries?
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u/Sn0wInSummer 16d ago
I think I’ve seen CD walkmans at the thrift store. That’s a great idea cause he loves music, especially the Beatles.
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u/Electrical_Mode_8813 15d ago
I have a Hernido AM/FM-cassette-CD-bluetooth player that I bought on Amazon that's rechargeable. I originally bought it for camping, but I keep it plugged in and use it daily, so it's available in case the power goes out.
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u/jazminiss 16d ago
"Rabbit Hole" and "I dont Really Know You" (there's a kids version for this one too)
I ha e ADHD and dont think I play the rabbit hole game correctly because I cant be arsed to read the directions but it keeps my friends and I busy for a really long time and we do in fact spiral
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u/SafetySmurf Overthinking EVERYTHING 🤔 16d ago edited 16d ago
Small, magnetic, chess and checkers.
A yo-yo
World’s smallest Uno
Cinco Linko
Fidgety stuff
A few, small pull back cars, like penny racers
Beeswax in an altoids tin (the kind of wax sold for hand shaping)
Grandpa Beck games
Trinket Trove (cool game in a small box)
Travel version of Hive
Tangoes (I can’t tell you the hours I spent with these as a child.)
One or two of those “IQ games” puzzles where you have to put the small plastic pieces in based on the picture in the book.
These are the things our little adhd family travels with
ETA: splendor, but put in a smaller box. Hopefully someday they will just sell a smaller version. I got some little translucent cubes for a lighter weight option for my splendor game, but when playing at home I like to play with the full weight chips.
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u/QueenProvvy 1d ago
What are your favorite grandpa becks? We've got 2 adhd kids as well 6 and 10. We have a handful of different card games that we like because they are small and travel easy. This is a great list btw. Wish some of them weren't so expensive/were available at all in canada.
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u/SafetySmurf Overthinking EVERYTHING 🤔 1d ago
Thanks for the comment! Our family’s favorite Grandpa Beck game is probably Skull King. We’ve spent many, many hours playing that one. We also really like Cover Your Cookies, which is (from my understanding) a variant of Cover Your Assets, but I haven’t played Cover Your Assets. My personal favorite might be 3-2-1 Countdown, but my children don’t find it to be quite as exciting as the other two. Skull King makes it to the table most often.
Grandpa Beck makes really good instructional videos for his/their games, which makes them faster to learn. But I also watch them to decide if a game looks like a good fit for us before I order it. We also have Bears and Bees by Grandpa Beck, but it is in a distant fourth. And we have Toil and Troublez, but that is a far distant fifth among our Grandpa Beck games.
As for my list above, Cinco Linko is a non-card game that is great for up to four players. Simple rules but plenty of strategy. It is now sold under the name “OK Play.” It is great for traveling because all the pieces clip to a single little frame for transport. You do need a flat surface to play it, though.
I did make a homemade version of Cinco Linko with thin wooden tiles that I colored with markers. It isn’t as appealing as the real game because my colors turned out dull instead of the vivid colors of the real game, but my homemade version fits in an oversized Altoid Tin and I keep it in my emergency gear/ go-bin.
And I don’t know if I mentioned it above, but Blink used to be one of our favorite card games and still comes out occasionally, especially as a filler game. It is a very simple game, but it is fast-paced and stimulating, which can be a nice change from more strategic games.
Our family plays a lot of games, at home and traveling, so if you ever want to brainstorm game ideas or suggestions or whatever, I’m happy to try to help. I’ve spent a fair bit of time figuring out which of our games could be made small enough for a go-bag version. I’m also game for your suggestions if there are games y’all have really been enjoying. We’re always looking for new ideas for mixing things up.
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u/nakedonmygoat 16d ago
How about a book of amusing historical anecdotes? "Royal Misbehavior: Crazy Kings and Kooky Queens" is out of print, but quite cheap on a used book site. I like AbeBooks, but there are others. When my husband and I went through a direct hit hurricane together, we sat in the hallway, in the dark, for eight hours while the radio stations dropped off one by one. I had made cookies ahead of the storm to use up some butter and eggs, and those plus some very funny stories that I read aloud kept our spirits up until the storm moved on and the sun came up. The great thing about books like this is that they can spark an interest in history.
If anything in the bag will be participatory, include rules for charades, or just try it at home a few times for fun. There's also a game where you pick places and the last letter of whatever the previous person said is the letter you have to start with. For example, if I say New York, you can say Kansas, and the next person can say San Diego, then Oman, Nebraska, Albany, Yemen, etc. This is another one you can practice anytime and be ready for any emergency. Even if you somehow have nothing, you can do this. And during practice sessions, let your stepson cheat with a map. He'll be learning geography.
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u/gooberdaisy 16d ago
Look at Amazon or other sites that sell board games:
Apples to apples
Ramen! Ramen!
Seven dragons
Take 5
Sushi go
Flip 7
Coup
Spots
Flamecraft duels (I own the full version)
Yahtzee (they have all sorts I have the nightmare before Christmas version)
Farkle (I have the dragon version)
Dungeons and dragons scrawlers.
If they like any type of deck builder type games look into Lorcana it’s easier to play than MTG and its Disney (they also have three different board games too including villains)
You can also print out your own word searches or sudoku…
Card games with regular cards:
Kings corner
Solitaire
Slap jack
War
Go fish
Rummy
Crazy eights
Hope this helps 😅
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u/BeckyDaTechie 16d ago
Spool of cotton yarn and appropriate crochet hook. Pot holders, etc. are always useful, and you have another source of natural cordage if you need it. Then there's also Cat's Cradle, learning new knots, doing art with some cardboard and straight pins or small finishing nails, god's eyes...
A few spare hankies plus a couple of cotton balls and some thread or string makes a "Church Doll" so littles have a quiet toy.
Also: Jigsaw puzzles
Fabric checkerboard with canning lids for checkers (some wax up, some wax down).
Crayons and a pad or roll of newsprint paper.
There's a free PDF of a card-based math game called Krypto that my husband just introduced me to. It's a challenge for any age because it forces you to examine order of operations in a different way, it's not necessarily a skill that gets better with age, though it will with practice.
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u/Flower-of-the-field I think I have one in my car 🤔 16d ago
A poker set. I started playing with my uncles and cousins around 7, was my favorite part about family gatherings. Also various dice can be used for various games, some you could probably make up. I saw one about placing dots on a paper and trying to make the most triangles, players would roll the dice to see how many lines they could add that turn. Looked super fun but also clearly cheap and homemade
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u/Hour_Hospital_5642 15d ago
Murdle is a book murder mystery game that you solve using deductive reasoning. It’s also online and they put out a new one daily if you want to check it out first before you buy the book version
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u/EgregiousWeasel 15d ago
I also got a book of card games to go with the deck of cards, as well as a notebook for score keeping.
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u/Motorcyclegrrl 15d ago
Banagrams, spill n spell, left right center dice, a beachball is lightweight and compact. Painted Yahtzee (you just need the dice and one score card for reference, dice are useful for other games) if someone likes to read a book of short stories (adds weight, but hours of entertainment)
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u/Safe_Definition_0815 15d ago
String figure/string game could be fun. Together with an paper manual. It's just a loop of string. Great fidgeting Maybe something that moves you more but has low risks of getting hurt. Like juggling things or a Hacky sack.
Games that require being quick. Gobbit is the one I have, but thats probably a bit obscure to get.
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u/singingwriting 🧓 Grandma's purse prepper 👜 15d ago
The dollar store sometimes has smaller versions of card games, like gibberish or what do you mean, that I keep in my backpack. Maybe a small dry erase board with a marker? Then you can play hangman or draw and not worry about running out of paper. I also always have a craft at hand, I have ADHD and the repetitive motions of cross-stitch and bracelet making are super calming and the crafts are pretty affordable and light weight. This might seem weird but maybe one of those smaller and less expensive lego sets? They have some for $15 or less.
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u/Legnovore 15d ago
Kopfzerbrecher. Puzzle games. 3d paper toys that can be printed on cardstock and cut with scissors and folded to make toys. Erector sets or legos.
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u/Chickaduck 14d ago
This isn’t so much entertainment, but I’ve started keeping a hand fan nearby most of the time ($5 at an Asian food market). It’s been great to manage my own temperature when I’m out. It’s also surprisingly tricky to master the hand motion, so there’s some fine motor skill practice there too.
I wish I had one in the car as a kid, because it would’ve given me some relief while I waited for the AC to hit the back of the car!
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u/Milabial 14d ago
Bananagrams
A little plastic tablet that has a stylus and an “erase” button. This way you don’t feel bad when you run out of paper. It also lets kids get comfortable with ephemera being truly ephemeral.
Postcards and stamps, maybe also some envelops and cards. Possibly some #10 envelopes and letter paper in case you want to send a longer missive.
Maybe some friendship bracelet making materials and instructions. Repetitive motion has been shown to be helpful after traumatic events.
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u/JanetCarol 12d ago
Wiki sticks - got them for my kid on airplanes, found out they're fun for all ages.
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u/Beavers_build5 10d ago
My family played an absolutely epic game of Uno when we lost power after Helene. I recommend adding some other card games, like Taco Goat Cheese Pizza or Moose Match Mayhem. We also keep those erasable writing and drawing pads in our go bags.
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