Fun beanbag games your toddler will love

If you have some extra material lying around at home, why not put it to good use by making beanbags your child will love playing with? Did you know that beanbag games are great for developing your child’s gross motor skills? Because most toddlers find it easier to handle a bean bag than a ball they’ll gain confidence playing with bean bags.

How to make your own beanbags

Make your own beanbags by sewing squares of scrap material together and filling them with dried beans or corn for heavier beanbags, or with fabric stuffing for lighter ones. If you’re feeling extra creative, you can make beanbags into all sizes and shapes, including heart-shaped beanbags, round beanbags, and square beanbags. Simply:

1. Trace the shape you want onto fabric with white chalk or a fabric pencil.
2. Stitch along the chalk line, leaving a 2 inch (5 cm) opening for adding beans or rice.
3. Pull the fabric from the inside to the outside so right sides are out.
4. Fill the bean bag with stuffing.

3 Fun beanbag games

Your toddler will love these fun games:

Beanbag tic-tac-toe

Create a grid on the floor using masking tape or chalk. Give your child one set of beanbags and you use the other. Now take turns tossing them into the grid until one of you has created a line.

Beanbag toss

Help your child learn colours by painting paper plates in different colours and then calling out the colours as your child tries to toss the beanbag onto the correct plate. You can do the same with numbers.

Beanbag bowling

Label 10 plastic cups or plastic bottles with numbers from one to 10, and stack them in front of each other in a triangle shape (one in the front, two in the second row, three in the third row, and four in the fourth row). Use the beanbag as the bowling ball and let your toddler try to knock down the cups or bottles – you can fill them with sand if you want to make the game a little harder.