10 Fun and Educational Bean Bag Games

Beanbags are one of the most useful learning tools you can find. The low cost and seemingly endless instant activities make beanbags a good choice for learning and having fun! Use these bean bag game ideas with or without a partner. You can use a bean bag challenge for party contests, skill building, fitness challenges, number counting exercises, and social partner activity that enhances communication skills. With these fun bean bag games for kids, your child can learn math skills while practicing hand-eye coordination!

Fun BeanBag Games For Kids To Try Solo And In Groups

In the photo above my kids have their phonics bean bags, which come with many bean bag games for preschoolers. These are great small bean bags for kids. However, all of the bean bag games listed here will work with any type of bean bags.

Bean bag games can be easily adapted to suit people of all ages and physical abilities, making it inclusive and suitable for various settings. Here is a list of 10 games to play with bean bags.

1. Clap N’ Catch Bean Bag Challenges

Have your child try to throw the beanbag in the air and then clap his hands before catching the bag. Once they get good at that the child can make it even more challenging by trying to clap two, three, or even four times while the beanbag is in the air. It is great for giving them a goal to work towards and improving their coordination.

2. Bean Bag Balance

Have your child try to balance as many bean bags as possible on themselves while they keep staking. See how many bean bags can be added. See how many different body parts can be used to balance the bean bags (forehead, top of the head, back the of neck, shoulder, bent elbow, wrist, top the of thigh, knee, top of the foot, etc). Notice the difficulty level of different body areas.  Are you ready for more bean bag games for kids?  Here are four more ideas.

3. Bean Bag Catch

Pair up for this bean bag game. Decide who will go first and get one bean bag. Stand about three feet apart and toss the bean bag underhanded back and forth to one another. If you both catch the bean bag you each take one step farther back, slightly increasing your distance. See how many tosses you get without a drop. See how far you can move apart from each other without dropping.

4. Math Bean Bag Game

Use your chalk to make a grid of numbers (9 small squares touching sides) on the pavement. Randomly write numbers in the square (1-9 or odd/even numbers). Have your child or another contestant stand a minimum of six feet away, or farther distances for more of a challenge. Each person tosses 3 bags onto the grid trying to score the highest cumulative score. Have your (or another) child add the score up for extra math practice! Play as many rounds as you like.

5. Word Spell

Toss the beanbags on letters to spell out a challenge word. This is a good exercise for reinforcing sight words or recent spelling test words. Use your chalk to write the alphabet on the pavement. Make each letter 6-12 inches in height. Use rows of letters closely situated to each other.

For example, write A-G on the first row, and continue with 5-8 letters for each row until you reach the letter Z. Choose a distance of at least six feet and now you are ready to play. An easy way to start this activity is to give the first person 5 beanbags and ask him to spell a word of your choosing. The object is to try and spell the word with the least amount of throws. If the word is “cat” and it takes 5 beanbags to spell the word, the score would be 5. Have the next player choose a word of the same length or try for the same word.

6. Bean Bag Toss Game

Set up your targets. You can use a few buckets or cardboard boxes. Assign each target different points and try to score the most points by landing your bean bags in the targets with each toss.

We made the bean bag toss game above with an old cardboard box. You can make one too! Not only will this be a fun project to work on as a family it will also provide some exercise during a time of year that we often find ourselves cooped up indoors.

First, you will want to sort through your boxes and see which ones may be best suited for making a bean bag toss board.  Large boxes are great as you can put more holes and assign various points to them. You can draw the holes by tracing a bottle of the right width- a pasta sauce bottle works great.  A box cutter works great for cutting the holes but you may use scissors or a knife instead- just be sure to use care especially if crafting with your kids. You will want to design your board and then cut that box or another and attach it to make the board stand at an angle.  Really there are endless ways to create a homemade bean bag toss so you can not go wrong!

After creating your bean bag toss board you may want to get fancy and decorate your bean bag toss by covering it with left over gift wrap, painting on it, or using markers.  You may also wish to assign point values to various holes and label them accordingly. Kind of like skee-ball.

Looking for more games with bean bags? We’ve got you covered with these fun bean bag activities!

7. Hot Potato

This is the best way for a large group to play with just one bean bag needed. Have children form a circle and then toss the bean bag or “hot potato” from player to player. If one drops it, they move to the center of the circle and become hot potato soup. The object is to be the last two players in the game. Another variation involves playing music and when the music stops, the person with the hot potato is out.

8. Hacky Sack

Kids can use a real hacky sack or just regular bean bags to see who can kick the bean bag into the air the most times without letting it land on the ground. This one is a little challenging and great for older kids and adults.

9. Relay Games

If you are looking for some outdoor games with physical activity, a bean bag race is perfect. The bean bag can use used as a baton that must be passed from player to player. Or if you only have one child, they can have a beanbag course where they race around and collect bean bags and try to improve their time with each try.

10. Hide And Go Seek

And finally on our list of popular bean bag games is hide and go seek bean bags. Can be played as yard games or indoors. One player hides their own bean bags in the designated play space. The other all hunt for the hidden bean bags. The player who finds the most gets to hide them for the next round. This is a fun way to enjoy being active with the bean bags.

DIY- How To Make Bean Bags For Toss Game

If you don’t have any bean bags on hand, you can make DIY bean bags. Just grab some mismatch socks and fill with some beans. Then you can either tie them shut or trim them and sew them shut by hand or with a sewing machine. Now you are ready to play with the homemade bean bags!

Beanbag Games Conclusion

Bean bag games offer a versatile blend of physical, cognitive, and social benefits for all ages. They improve motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and strategic thinking, while encouraging light physical activity and fostering social interaction. Easy to set up and adaptable for different abilities, these games provide a fun and stress-relieving activity that promotes family bonding and relaxation, making them a great addition to gatherings or casual playtime.

I hope you found these bean bag game ideas to be just what you were looking for. When you’ve had your fill of these suggested bean bag games for kids, invite your child’s creativity and get them to come up with their own bean bag challenges. Do your kids enjoy games with bean bags?

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