When I put up the post about the washable bean bags that I had made with hubby for Christmas Papgena from Papgena made it asked a very interesting questions:
What are they good for? What can kids do with them?
To some of you this question might sound strange.
But not to me - I totally understand.
There are no bean bags around here in Germany.
And apparently also in other european countries.
Before I started blogging I had never heard of them. And when I did hear of them - or rather read about them - for the first time I had exactly the same question.
What are they good for?
They are just a little cushion thingy with beans - what can they be used for?
Why would kids play with them?
Now I really love them. I like that they are so called OPEN TOYS - which means that they can be used for ANYTHING a kid can think of!
Of course they are awesome for throwing!!! :-)
And - the mommy likes that - they can be heated up and used for tummy aches! Much better than those big water bottles!
They can also be used for pillows ... but also for things like pretend-playfood for example.
Yes, I KNOW it does not look like play food.
That is the PRETEND part in it! ;-)
And it is good for kids to actually USE their imagination ....
Anyway, there are soooo many things that they can be used for ... so guys, help me out here and comment and tell what uses you can think of or your kids have shown you. Also of course if you have made beanbags before or know a link ... please share!
I hope we get a nice collection of uses for bean bags together to convince all Germans/ Europeans that they are an awesome toy and start a new trend overhere! :-)
6 comments:
I love bean bags. They are perfect for sorting, throwing, grabbing, pretending. The only question is - What beans are the best for use in bean bags?
Around here (middle Tennessee), they play a game that is rather unfortunately named "corn hole" with them. A piece of plywood about 3 ft. square with five 6" holes cut out (like a five die) is placed on the ground about 10 feet away, with the back elevated about a foot and the front on the ground. The bean bags are thrown at it, with the intent of throwing the bag through one of the holes.
I think you've seen mine before, but this is the last batch I made for a friend: http://sewmanydreams.blogspot.com/2010/10/bean-bags.html
We also have some wildly colourful ones that my boys use. We practice tossing them into buckets;
cut circles out of cardboard and try to throw the bags through the circles;
bean bags make great beds for small dolls or stuffed animals;
we take them to the park and race them down the slides;
we use them to practice balance by walking up and down stairs with them on our heads;
we use them to count;
we shake them just to hear the noise, and feel the little beans inside to talk about shapes;
we chill them for headaches and heat them for tummy aches or to warm up the foot space in bed;
we hide them around the house and hunt for them...the list goes on!
HI, I think I can help in that dept. ..I help with our community events that we put on for the children for Spring Fling or Fall Feast ,we have a board (Plywood) about 4'x4' there are 5 holes on the board and a painting of and animal or sun, heart and etc, then we take the bean bags about 6 and let each child aim & throw them to get them in the holes and if they get 3 or more the get a prize .Some people also use hoops instead of a board ,the board is more fun though. They can also be used to hold down items ,like paper or table cloth outside as a paper weight, hope this helps .Also we sometimes use rice instead of beans in cloth bags of different lenght to warm up for pain.
Oh I love this post!!! :)
You don't know how good it is to feel: I'm not alone!!! :)
I made some bean bags to help my goddaughter learn to count. They have a number on the front and that same number of animals on the back. http://thecraftersapprentice.blogspot.com/2010/12/counting-bean-bags-tutorial.html
You could also do a b c ...
Post a Comment