Brilliant Bean Bags
Bean bags may be some of the least appreciated storytime props – after all, they are easy to make, cheap to buy, and they can be used for so many different activities across a variety of age groups and storytime themes. But that’s not all! Bean bag activities also help children to:
- develop directionality and orientation in space, which supports writing skills
- improve self-control
- develop hand-eye coordination, an important early literacy skill
- improve gross motor skills
- understand the rhythm of language with their whole bodies
Here are some fun ideas for using bean bags in your programs, and links for more ideas!
1) Butterfly
On each line, move both hands from sides to up in the air above the head. Each time your hands go above your head, pass the beanbag to the opposite hand.
Butterfly
In the sky
Flap your wings
And up you fly
Back and forth
To and fro
Up, up, and
Away you go!
2) Froggy Hop
(to the tune of “Here We Go ‘Round the Mulberry Bush”)
For baby and toddler storytimes: Give a bean bag to each caregiver and have them hop it on the baby’s toes, knees, etc. as described in the rhyme.
For older children: Follow the directions below to make this a balancing activity.
Froggy’s hopping on my toes, on my toes, on my toes (balance bean bag on toes)
Froggy’s hopping on my toes –
RIBBIT! (move bean bag to knee)
Froggy’s hopping on my knee…
Froggy’s hopping on my tummy…
Froggy’s hopping on my shoulder…
Froggy’s hopping on my head, on my head, on my head (balance bean bag on head)
Froggy’s hopping on my head –
RIBBIT! (make bean bag jump to floor)
He hopped away!
3) At the Circus
Place a masking tape line on the floor to act as a tight rope. Invite the children to balance their beanbags on their heads as they walk across. If they drop them, encourage them to pick them up and keep trying!
With my bean bag on my head,
I stand so very tall.
I walk along my own tightrope
And will not let it fall.
4) Cook Out
This is a fun bean bag activity for food or summer themed storytimes. As a bonus, when you are moving the hamburger from hand to hand in the first part of the rhyme, you are also signing HAMBURGER in American Sign Language. Click here to see a video of the sign.
(Hold bean bag in right hand. Hold left hand facing up. Turn right hand over to deposit bean bag into left palm. Then turn both hands and repeat it the other way, as if you are shaping a hamburger patty. Repeat this rhythmically through the first verse.)
I’m making a hamburger for the grill.
Will I eat it? Yes I will!
(Place bean bag on flat left palm. Use your right hand as a spatula to lift the beanbag and flip it over. Then switch hands. Repeat this motion throughout verse 2.)
I’m flipping my hamburger on the grill.
Will I eat it? Yes I will!
(Hold bean bag in left palm. Pretend to squirt on ketchup, mustard, etc. with other hand.)
Now I’m fixing my hamburger from the grill.
Will I eat it? Yes I will!
(Place bean bag in left hand. Raise hand toward mouth, then down to right hand. Switch the bean bag to the right hand and repeat.)
Now I’m eating my hamburger. This is fun!
Did I eat it? Yes, all done!
(If desired, sign ALL DONE at the end. Click here for a video of the sign.)
5) Vacation
I went to the train station
To take a little vacation (Pass bean bag back and forth between hands for the first 2 lines)
I went to the beach (Move bean bag diagonally away from you, starting at your right side, and ending up far out in front of your on you left side)
And then came home (Bring bean bag back to right side)
And had some relaxation. (Place bean bag into left hand)
Repeat, replacing “the beach” with vacation destinations chosen by the children. Each time you begin, you should be starting with the bean bag in the opposite hand from the previous time. Make sure the diagonal cross-body movements also alternate hands between verses. This simple motion of crossing the midline improves communication between the two hemispheres of the brain.
Got a great bean bag activity that you use in your programs? Tell us about it in the comments below or by sending an email to storytimestuff@gmail.com and you’ll be entered into a drawing for a copy of our latest storytime resource book!
More Bean Bag Activities:
http://www.philosophyoffreedom.com/node/1654
http://www.ehow.com/way_5414552_bean-bag-activities-kids.html
http://www.ot-mom-learning-activities.com/bean-bag-games.html
http://craftulate.blogspot.com/2013/02/bean-bag-tutorial-and-games.html
Carpet Squares: Not Just for Sitting on Anymore
1) Surfboards:
Spice up a summertime or ocean-themed program by inviting the kids to climb aboard their carpet squares and surf along with your favorite Beach Boys tune!
2) Color Action Game:
If you have carpet squares of different colors, use them to play a color recognition action game. (If all your carpet squares are the same color, put processing dots of different colors in the corners.) Then sing the song below and invite the kids to perform the actions:
(to the tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know It”)
If your carpet square is red, pat your head.
If your carpet square is red, pat your head.
If your carper square is red, then go ahead and show it.
If your carpet square is red, pat your head.
Blue…touch your shoe…
Yellow…wave to a fellow…
Brown…jump up and down…
White…curl up tight…
Green…do a forward lean…
Black…scratch your friend’s back…
Grey…shout “hooray!”
Any color…give a holler!…
3) Play a life-sized board game:
Set up a path of carpet squares around the room, randomly mixing up colors. (Again, if your carpet squares are all one color, mark the corners with different colored processing dots.) Designate a starting and ending square. Create cards of each color by cutting up pieces of construction paper (or put dots on index cards if you are using the dot method. If desired, mark some squares with pictures relating to your theme and make cards to match. (For example, a Fall storytime might include a pumpkin, apple, leaf, and tree.) Have the children line up at the starting square and then take turns drawing a card from the pile. If a child draws a red card, he or she goes to the first red square. If a child draws a picture card, he or she must go to that square, even if that means going backwards. Keep playing (reshuffling cards as needed) until everyone gets to the end.
Literacy variations:- Alphabet matching: Mark the squares with letters of the alphabet and make cards to match. (Or use a set of magnetic alphabet letters and have each child draw one out of a bag on his or her turn.) Be sure to ask the child to identify the letter and match it to the correct square.
- What’s that sound?: Mark the squares with letters of the alphabet as above, but make cards with simple words that begin with different letters of the alphabet. On each child’s turn, read a word aloud without showing it to the child, and see if the children can guess the first letter by sound. If they have trouble, show them the card and help them identify the first letter and its sound before moving to the correct square. (Make sure that the letters on your cards and squares are consistently uppercase or consistently lowercase to avoid confusion.)
- Big and Little Matching: Mark the squares with uppercase letters of the alphabet, and make cards showing the lowercase letters. The children must match the letters to find the correct square.
4) Make Your Own Flannelboard:
Give each child a carpet square and a set of simple felt shapes, and invite them to tell the story along with you as you use the large flannelboard. This is a great activity for baby storytimes, as it encourages one-on-one interaction between parent and child, and gives parents a useful model for storytelling with their little ones at home. A simple flannelboard story such “Dog’s Colorful Day”, based on the book by Emma Dodd, is ideal for this activity. (Download a free flannelboard pattern by artist Melanie Fitz here.)
For older children, consider using this activity with a tangram story. Tangrams, a traditional Chinese puzzle and storytelling form, are easy to make and can yield thousands of different shapes. Check out one of the books below for stories and instructions on how to make a tangram set:
- Grandfather Tang’s Story: A Tale Told With Tangrams by Ann Tompert. New York: Crown, 1990.
- Grandfather’s Shape Story by Brian Sargent. New York: Scholastic, 2007.
5) Lilypads:
Liven up a froggy storytime with this rhyme, performed on carpet square lilypads. Follow up by inviting the kids to hop from lilypad to lilypad around the room while you play a frog song such as “Jumping Frog” from Pretend by Hap Palmer (Freeport, NY: Educational Activities, Inc., 1998).
Lilypad Rhyme
I am a frog, lovely and green
I sit on my lilypad, calm and serene
Until a fly comes whizzing by
Then I LEAP in the air so high!
I stick out my tongue and SLURP.
Down goes the fly and out comes a burp.
I like being a frog, so I don’t think I’ll stop
Because it’s so much fun to hop!
There goes another fly, I really must dash.
I hop into the water with a great big SPLASH!
6) Tuffets:
Invite the kids to imagine that they are Miss Muffet sitting on her tuffet and act out the silly rhyme below.
Miss Muffet’s Tuffet
Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet
Eating her curds and whey
Along came a spider and sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away.
But she came back around and sat back down
And continued then to eat.
Her toes got cold, so she was told
To put the tuffet on her feet!
Miss Muffet was done, she’d eaten a ton
But she didn’t care.
The spider came back and jumped on her back
So she waved her tuffet in the air!
It started to rain, she said, “What a pain!
I don’t want my hair to get wet!”
So she lifted her hands like that, and made up a hat
She put the tuffet on her head!
The rain started to slow, and the spider had to go
So she said, “I’ll see you around!”
She put the tuffet on the floor, and then once more
She sat herself back down!
Fabulous Frogs Storytime
Recommended Book
A Frog in the Bog by Karma Wilson. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003)
Sometimes your eyes really are too big for your stomach! A frog keeps eating more and more bugs while growing bigger and bigger. The frog’s eating is interrupted when he realizes that it’s not a log he’s been sitting on in the bog, but an alligator. This fabulous story is told with rhyming text and encourages children to participate with the use of repeating sentences and counting. No bugs were harmed in the telling of this story.
Flannelboard Rhyme 
“Five Hopping Frogs”
One frog hopping alone in the morning dew,
He heard another – RIBBIT – and then there were two.
Two frogs hopping beneath a willow tree,
They heard another – RIBBIT – and then there were three.
Three frogs hopping past the alligator as he let out a snore,
They heard another – RIBBIT – and then there were four.
Four frogs hopping near the pond take a dive,
They heard another – RIBBIT – and then there were five.
Action Rhyme
Frogercize
Can you hop real high like a frog in the sky? (hop in place high)
Can you leap through the reeds like a frog chasing fleas? (leap from side to side in place)
Can you RIBBIT real loud like a frog in a crowd? (RIBBIT!)
Can you crouch down low like a frog hiding from below? (squat down low)
Can you sit real still waiting for a fly to buzz over the hill? (sit down)
An Oldie But a Goodie
Five Green and Speckled Frogs
Five Green and speckled frogs,
Sitting on a hollow log,
Eating some most delicious bugs, Yum, Yum.
One frog jumped in the pool,
Where it was nice and cool,
Now there are only four speckled frogs, Glub, glub.
(Continue counting down until there no frogs left.)
Storytime Stuff 