Do you have a child that needs to throw? I find having at least one throwing activity out essential during inside or 'stay at home days'. The last couple of days here have been very stormy, with hazardous winds so outside play has been limited. Bean bags are an obvious choice for throwing. We like to use bean bags for:
- throwing in or to a target such as in hoops or in buckets, or even a circle drawn with chalk onto the driveway outside.
- throwing at a vertical target such as a spot on the wall, marked out with painters tape or on a brick wall outside marked with chalk.
- throwing and catching, the child can throw the bean bag up in the air and catch it or you can throw it to each other, taking turns to catch and throw. Perhaps for juggling if you have an older child.
- counting, count the bean bags as they are thrown or deposited into a container or basket.
- colour matching, match coloured bean bags to colour play silks or throw in to coloured hoops.
- for developing balance, the child can walk around the room or on a line with a bean bag on their head.
- for transporting - great for children in the transporting schema, transporting in baskets, bags or in the back to toy dump trucks.
- for measuring - for weighing in scales.
I've found throwing bean bags useful for a child who is feeling frustrated or has some strong emotions. The child can almost let their feeling out by putting their energy and focus into throwing. Depending on the activity and how it is set out, the child may be able to throw the bean bags as hard as they want - just make sure there isn't anything nearby the child can knock over. Our Colour Bean Bags are c/o Modern Teaching Aids.
Throwing into hoops. Depending on the colour hoops you have this could be used for colour matching. You can move the hoops further away as the child becomes more confident and accurate with their throwing.
Throwing in a single bucket, for developing coordination, for counting the bean bags as they throw them in or naming the colour of each bean bag before they throw it.
My toddler loves this. While I have set this game up he will also get it out and play independently.
White bucket/red bucket. This is for simple throwing, coordination and responsiveness. The adult (or sibling or peer) shouts out "red bucket", or "white bucket" and the child throws the bean bag in the corresponding bucket, you can get faster and faster so the response time gets shorter and shorter.
Throwing in three different buckets. We use masking tape on the rug to give the child some boundary, rules as to where they can stand when throwing. This is also helpful if you turn it into a game with more than one child (Otis and Otto were playing this together).
This is fun and simple colour matching using the coloured bean bags and play silks. We have a coloured parachute and also coloured bowls that could also be used for this colour matching work.
Thank you to Modern Teaching Aids for our Colour Bean Bags. Other styles I like include the Alphabet Bean Bags (upper and lower case) and the Shapes Bean Bags.
If you are in the US these coloured bean bags look similar!
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