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Read moreBean bag throwing
What you need
- A bean bag (if you don’t have one, make your own by using a small cloth bag with a zip e.g. make-up bag and filling with rice. Alternatively, you could use a ball.)
- Some space – perhaps out in the garden or in the park
Benefits
- Developing hand-eye coordination
- Using gross motor skills and developing control over an object
- Hearing and using ordinal language such as ‘first’ and ‘last’
The experience
Show your child the bean bag; ask them how far they think they can throw it. Do they think it will be further than you can? Find a space with no breakables (we recommend the garden or an open space at the park, if possible). Agree where you have to stand to throw the beanbag – perhaps chalk a line, stick some tape on the ground or find a stick to mark the starting line. Then, get throwing!
Take turns to throw the beanbag, talk about whose went the furthest. You might like to challenge each other by seeing if you can throw it further than you did on your last go! Mark where the beanbag landed with sticks, tape or chalk, and give it another try!
If your child is over 3 years old, add an extra challenge by helping them to measure how far they threw their beanbag – count how many steps it takes to walk to where it landed! Or draw medals for the people who came 1st and 2nd. You could even score each throw, e.g. you could draw different coloured lines about 40cm apart, if it passes the red line 1 point, blue line 2 points, yellow line 3 points. Together, add up the points to see how many you got in total!