Toss Across Game

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In this variation of netball, use a bean bag instead of a ball. Throw the bean bag to each other (or to your own team members if there are a few players) and score by throwing the bean bag into the hoop. Teach early maths skills by telling them how many you have hidden and ask them to find them all. Count them as they find them and bring them to you, one at a time.

Make things more challenging again by balancing while walking, or making movements while maintaining balance. Step One: If you are outside, draw the noughts and crosses grid on the ground. If you are inside, you can use masking tape that peels away easily from lino, tiles or carpet. Time kids for completing all the tasks and then encourage them to attempt to beat their time. 19. Bean Bag Twister Turn the music on and dance with your kids while tossing the beanbag to and fro. When the music stops, you all have to freeze in position.Instead of using noughts and crosses, use two different coloured bean bags to represent two players. The object is to take turns laying down a beanbag on a square and try to make a row of three. The first person to make a row of three vertically, horizontally or diagonally is the winner. The children sat criss-cross applesauce in a circle and wrapped one arm across their bellies and used their other arm to receive and pass the bean bag from one friend to the other. This was more challenging than it might seem, and once the children seemed to have a good handle on the process, I made things a little more interesting by calling out “switch directions” and “switch arms.” Hot Potato Because these homemade bean bags are so light, I wasn’t worried about the preschoolers or toddlers accidentally getting hurt in a gentle game of catch. This was a fun, interactive way to the practice hand-eye coordination and co-operation. Children can really work on eye-hand coordination by doing a few minutes of shooting practice every now and again. 13. Freeze Dance

The children sit in a circle and the ‘hot potato’ (bean bag) is passed from child to child. It must not be held onto for too long, or it will ‘burn’ hands. The aim is not to drop the potato when it passes to you. First start by drawing basic fish shapes and cutting them out in cardboard. Then let the children decorate the fish in creative ways, such as: Play hide and seek with the bean bags by hiding them around the house or garden and then sending the children to find them. Set out some hula hoops or mark out targets on the ground, and have your child toss the bean bags into the hoops. For beginners, place the hula hoop close to where the child is standing. Kate, who is known for her competitive streak, joined a team of pupils being supported by Dame Kelly’s trust at its base in Bath, with the former sports star on the other team.

When the princess sat down for a chat with a group of schoolgirls from St Katherine’s School in Bristol supported by the charity, she opened up the floor to questions about herself. Asked if she wanted to be a “royal” by a pupil, the princess replied it was something she had not expected but she “fell in love” with William. The princess joked: “You would never have guessed.” Kate joked she would ‘never have guessed’ Dame Kelly Holmes has a competitive streak (Kin Cheung/PA) Set up a simple endurance challenge by giving tasks to carry out with the bean bags. Once a task is completed, the next task must be done until all tasks are complete. Mark a place to stand and toss the beanbag into the hole. If it lands on the board you score 1 point; if it lands in the hole score 2 points. Take turns and the first one to 20 points wins. Adjust the score and rules depending on the children’s ages. 16. Hot Potato

The children sit in a circle and the ‘hot potato’ is passed from child to child but must not be held onto for too long or it will burn hands. The aim is not to drop the potato. Play hide and seek with the bean bags by hiding them around the house or garden and then sending your kids to look for them. They can earn a point for each beanbag they find.This turned out to be a genius idea, as it gives the bean bags just enough weight to carry out all of the games, but not enough weight to hurt someone or damage furniture if thrown in a moment of excitement. Place the hula hoop close by for a young child and try some variations for older children – such as laying out various hoops at different distances, standing the hoops up and throwing through the vertical hoops, etc. Play this game alone with your child or divide up the family or friends into two teams. 10. Juggling Encourage and watch how much your child can balance on his head or other body parts at the same time. Start with two bean bags and see how many times you can juggle them without dropping them. Then try and walk around while juggling. Add in a third beanbag and give it a bash. 11. Tic Tac Toe

The objective of Noughts And Crosses Race is to get either three noughts or three crosses in a row either vertically, horizontally or diagonally! To play, spin the spinner, and toss the bean bag onto the colour that the spinner landed on. This is a fun and interactive way to learn colours. 20. Juggling Turn the music on and dance while tossing a beanbag up in the air and to each other. When the music stops, you have to freeze in position. Mega Noughts And Crosses: In this variation, expand the grid to 5×5 and add two teams. Now that’s MEGA!This is a fun gross-motor game that can also be adapted to get children crossing the midline and learning their left and right sides. Teach them to receive the beanbag from the child on their left with their right hand, pass it to their left hand and pass it to the child on their right. If they use the wrong hand they are out. Step Two: Divide your class into two groups. Ask them to make two lines about 20 metres from the grid. Tip: Use cones to mark the front of the lines. Place the pile of bean bags in front of the first person in each group. Make sure each group has different coloured bean bags. Explain that everyone will be playing a giant version of noughts and crosses. The aim of the game is to be the first team to get three cones into an uninterrupted row on the grid. Have a fun race by balancing bean bags on your head (or other part of your body) and racing to a finish line. I had previously used these bean bags, as well as these shape bean bags, and these letter bean bags— all were good quality and held up to my kids, if you’re not up for the sewing project!)