When I saw that Educational Insights offered Phonics Bean Bags designed to teach letter sounds through active play, I knew that they would be perfect for my 4 year old son! The phonics bean bags make teaching phonics fun for me and learning phonics fun for my active son.
I was provided with bean bags by Educational Insights in the hopes that I would share my honest opinions. I received no monetary compensation for this review and the opinions expressed are my own.
Making Phonics Fun
My daughter is 6 and she is already a good little reader. My son is always trying to do everything she can do. I like to help him keep up with her so I thought we could play with the phonics bean bags while she was at school. Mostly we like to play I spy. He will arrange all the bean bags flat out and I will say, “I spy something that begins with /s/ sound.” They he find the right bean bag and he gets to throw it to me for me to catch. Then when I have all the bean bags, I says I spy and I throw them to him for him to catch.
She discovered the bean bags too though and wanted in on the fun. The phonics bean bag set comes with a bunch of really fun game suggestions and detailed instructions for play plus we have made up a few of our own. Not only have the bean bags been great at developing my son’s phonics skills but also at improving the aim of both my daughter and son. These phonics bean bags are lots of fun and we approve!
Educational Insights Phonics Bean Bags Review
Kinesthetically reinforce phonics lessons in tossing games with adorable picture bean bags.
- Includes 26 bean bags, each with a richly embroidered picture that represents a letter sound, for active play that engages children in developing phonemic awareness
- Features pictures on both sides of vowel bags to represent long and short vowel sounds, plus pictures on both sides of c and g bags to represent their hard and soft sounds
- Provides storage for all components in drawstring bag
- Washable felt bean bags are lightweight and measure 2.75″ each, easy for young children to handle
Phonics Bean Bags Games
It comes with an Activity Guide which offers suggestions for hands-on phonics bean bag games. There are 8 phonics games. Here are a couple of our favorite games below.
Alpha Toss
Make a giant alphabet game board from a plastic shower curtain or tablecloth. Draw lines with a permanent marker, dividing the game board into 26 sections. Cut out pictures from magazines or have children draw pictures of objects or animals for each letter of the alphabet on large index cards. Tape the pictures to the game board. You may wish to show two pictures in one section for the long and short sound of each of the vowels and for the hard and soft sounds of the letters c and g. Have children take turns tossing the beanbags onto the pictures that begin with the same sound.
Variation: Write the uppercase and lowercase letter form for each letter on a large index card. Tape the letters to the game board. Have children take turns tossing the beanbags onto the letter that begins each picture’s name.
“I Spy” Letter Sounds
Place several of the beanbags in a bag or other container. Have a child reach inside the container without looking and choose a beanbag, for example the beanbag with the picture of the dog. Then have her locate something in the room that begins with the same letter sound. When she has found something, have her say, “I spy something that begins with /d/ like dog.” She then places the beanbag on her head,
shoulder, arm, or any other part of her body she chooses and, while balancing the beanbag, walks over to the object and identifies it by saying, “I spy something that begins with /d/. It’s a desk.”
Variation: Have children identify the letter that makes the sound, too.
These phonics bean bags can also be used for these fun bean bag games kids will love.
Do your kids enjoy learning about phonics? Do they enjoy playing with bean bags?
Related Posts:
Teaching Our Boys The Power of A Positive Attitude