These 10 bean bag games to play with kids are wonderful to have in your back pocket as you are looking to engage your children.
Moms, daycare workers, preschool teachers, and kindergarten teachers will all benefit from having these bean bag games on hand. The games can be played both outside and inside.
Bean bag activities for kids work on hand-eye coordination, body awareness, concentration, and integration of motor skills like touch, movement, proprioception, kinesthesia, and vision.
10 Bean Bag Games to Play with Kids
Here are the 10 bean bag games you will be introduced to today:
- Toss the Bean Bag to Yourself
- “Bubble Gum” Rhyme
- Bean Bag Toss and Catch Game
- Bean Bag Relays
- Bean Bag Balance
- Bean Bag Basketball
- Bean Bag Music Freeze
- Bean Bag Obstacle Balance
- Bean Bag Endurance Activities
- Hide the Bean Bag
Bean bags are such fabulous things to have in your home. My mother-in-law sewed the ones we have. She gave these to my kids as a gift. You can always buy bean bags from Amazon too.
I am also going to add a handy YouTube video at the end of this post in case you want to sew your own.
My children love their bean bags, and they get much use.
10 Bean Bag Games and Activities to Play with Kids
Let them compete with themselves to see how many they can get in a row or how high they can throw it up and still maintain enough control to catch it again.
It is great for them to set goals and try and break their own personal record. This teaches children perseverance and the value of practice.
2. “Bubble Gum” Rhyme – Kids love rhymes and songs. Pass the bean bag to this rhyme: “Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum in a Dish. How many pieces do you wish?”
Whoever the bean bag lands on gets to say how many pieces and then you keep passing that many times. Start the rhyme over again.
If you have a large group, kids that get “out” can go to the center of the circle until you find the last man standing.
This was my kids’ favorite activity we did with the bean bags.
3. Bean Bag Catch – Give one child a cup or a little pot like the one pictured above. You might want to find something that cannot break.
Let the other child toss the bean bag. They need to work together as a team to try and catch as many as they can.
4. Bean Bag Relays – Have the children balance the bean bag on a body part and race to the finish. Yes, it’s OK that only one of them can win.
These relays can for a while because you can choose different body parts. They can balance on their head, arm, back, back of their hand or shoulder as they race from one spot to the next.
5. Bean Bag Balance – This is a test to see who can balance on a body part the longest (chest, head, arm, food, cheek, back of hand or face). This works on self-control and balance. Last child standing wins.
6. Bean Bag Basketball – This is a toss game where they take turns trying to get the bean bag in the bucket. You can vary the position starting point based on the child’s age to make it fair.
7. Bean Bag Music Freeze – Play music. Let them dance or throw the bean bags while the music is going. When the music stops, they need to freeze.
This can be a competitive game where kids can sit out if they don’t freeze in time. It can also just be fun to repeat this over and over and not have kids go out.
8. Bean Bag Obstacle Balance – I didn’t get a great picture of this, but you have the kids walking a line made of string. You also put obstacles they need to step over or touch (taller things along the side like a t-ball base or an upside-down bucket) along the way.
The goal is the get to the end of the string without having the bean bag fall. You could also draw a chalk line they need to follow.
9. Bean Bag Endurance Activities – This game will keep them busy for a while.
Put one pile of bean bags at one end of the yard or room. They need to move bean bags across the space one at a time. They need to do it at your command. So, when they pick up a bean bag, you get to yell out whether they should run, skip, hop, leap, gallop, crawl, etc.
10. Hide the Bean bag – Take turns hiding the bean bag and then having the others go and search for it. Kids love to search for things. Beanbags provide the perfect medium.
Bean bags also come in handy when doing the following learning games:
Looking for More Activities to Do with Kids?
Note: This post was originally written in 2012. The content is the same, but the post has been updated for quality purposes.
Love the ideas! I just recently made a bean bag toss board for my daughters birthday! If you get a chance you should take a peek at it 🙂 http://willamettevalleywonderwoman.blogspot.com/2012/08/diy-bean-bag-toss-board-instagram-love.html?m=1
Melissa
Hi,
Thanks Jodi for sharing your bean bag ideas. They are fantastic.
Melissa, your bean bag toss board idea is great. Would you mind if I made some and added them to my list of products on my website. This activity is great for so many areas of development (gross motor, hand-eye coordination, socially) and I think if parents could just purchase it they would be more inclined to get one for their child. It would be great to offer a product that gets children off the couch.
I am very happy to credit you for the idea. I look forward to hearing from you.
Regards,
Lauren
(Clinical Psychologist)
Thanks, Lauren. I’m glad you enjoy this. I would encourage you to contact her through the link to her site…in the comment section or figure out her email. I am not 100% sure she’ll see it through my site, but I might be wrong. Thanks for taking an interest.
Hi Jodi! I’m stopping by from Stella B’s Kitchen and I’m your newest follower! I’m so glad you commented on my blog, it led me to your beautiful space and wonderful ideas! I look forward to following along:) Come say hello anytime!!
http://stellabskitchen.blogspot.com
Working on sewing with my four year old and we’ve decided to make bean bags for birthday & Christmas gifts. Glad to find this! I’ll pass it along!
I love this idea. Thanks for sharing. Will have to make some of these for my grandkids! Always blessed by your blog.
You can play games with bean bags. Know more about it fom this post
The post has given information on 10 bean bagginess that can be played with
Such great ideas! Consider adding your post (and others!) to our Learn Through Play Hop. We are open all month long!
http://suchamama.com/2014/06/02/learn-through-play-hop-11/
Thanks so much!
We are including bean bags in our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. Thanks for the meaningful list of games.
I love that! It would be great to type out some of these ideas to add in the box. Thanks for what you’re doing with Operation Christmas Child. Blessings!
Thanks for the great ideas! I included a link to this article on my latest blog post where I’ve recommended bean bags as a wonderful gift for young toddlers!
Thanks so much for linking back to me. I really appreciate it, and I’m glad you found this post helpful. 🙂
I totally need to get bean bags. I let my kids toss around ping pong balls, but I’m never actually had bean bags, which now that I think about it is a complete fail on my part as an indoor activities nerd!
Yes! They’re easy to make if you can sew too. Have fun!
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