Early years activity: Beanbag play
Physical activity is an essential part of children's development, helping to build strength, coordination, balance and confidence while promoting a healthy lifestyle. These simple beanbag activities encourage active play through fun, engaging experiences.
Beanbag play learning aims
- Develop throwing, catching, balancing and coordination skills
- Improve balance and body control
- Follow simple instructions
- Build confidence through active play
- Take turns and play cooperatively.
Resources you will need for this activity
- Soft beanbags (one per child)
- Hoops
- Buckets or baskets
- Floor spots or cones
- Music (optional).
Beanbag play activity outline
- Give each child a beanbag and encourage them to explore holding it in different ways. Ask the children to place the beanbag on their head, shoulder, hand or foot, praising their efforts to keep it balanced. Invite them to stretch up high, crouch down low and gently touch the floor while balancing their beanbag. Once everyone is ready, encourage the children to move around the space by marching, walking on tiptoes, taking giant steps and then tiny mouse steps, reminding them to watch where they are going and be aware of others
- Next, introduce the Beanbag Balance Challenge. Ask the children to place their beanbag on their head and see if they can walk carefully around the room without it falling off. As their confidence grows, encourage them to try different movements such as walking backwards, along a taped line, or squatting down before standing back up again. Offer lots of encouragement and remind the children that it is perfectly fine if the beanbag falls—they can simply pick it up and try again
- For the next activity, place several buckets or hoops around the room and explain that these are hungry monsters who need feeding. Scatter the beanbags around the space and encourage the children to collect one at a time before running, hopping or jumping to a ‘monster’ bucket and throwing the beanbag into its mouth. Once they have fed one monster, they should return to collect another beanbag until all of the monsters are full. Adapt the movements depending on the children's abilities and energy levels
- Next, organise a beanbag throwing activity. Place hoops or baskets at varying distances and invite the children to take turns throwing their beanbags into the targets. Demonstrate both underarm and overarm throws and encourage children to have a go at whichever method they feel most comfortable with. Move children closer or further away from the targets to ensure everyone experiences success while still being challenged. Celebrate effort, perseverance and improvement rather than focusing on whether the beanbag lands inside the hoop
- Finish the active session with a simple Beanbag Relay. Divide the children into small groups and ask them to carry their beanbag to a cone before walking around it and returning to hand it to the next child. Change how they carry the beanbag by balancing it on their head, shoulder or between their knees to add variety and further develop balance and coordination. Encourage children to cheer each other on while reminding them that the aim is to move carefully rather than quickly
- To calm the children ready for the next part of the day, invite everyone to lie comfortably on the floor with a beanbag resting on their tummy. Encourage them to watch the beanbag rise and fall as they take slow, deep breaths. Finish with some gentle stretches, reaching up to the sky and then curling into a small ball, before thanking the children for taking part.
How to extend this activity
You could redo each activity several times to give children the chance to improve on their skills each time.
NDNA products to support you with this activity
Supporting children's emotional well-being - Factsheet
Developing self-regulation and well-being - LVC
Disclaimer: Activities with children must always be risk assessed, including for allergies or choking. Children must always have adequate supervision. Resources and materials must always be appropriate for children’s age and stage of development.
