Learning and playing with beanbags: activities for toddlers (1-2 years)

A toddler wants to do everything themselves. This includes playing, exploring, and trying things out. Encourage your toddler's curiosity with these versatile beanbags ! They're perfect for developing their developing gross and fine motor skills. Below, you'll find fun and educational activities for playing with beanbags, especially for children aged 1 to 2. First, let's take a look at how your toddler develops during this stage of life.

Your child's development between 1 and 2 years old

Walking is probably the most familiar milestone in this stage of life. But besides walking, your child also learns to crouch, climb, and run. Fine motor skills are also developing. They learn how to fit things together. They learn to stack and sort. Your child is curious about new textures, sounds, and smells.

Beginnings of color recognition and pretend play

Your toddler will also learn to recognize and name colors. Rainbow beanbags are perfect for this. Toddlers also want to do everything themselves, so being able to grab toys independently is a great way to meet that need. For example, place the toys on a low cupboard or shelf. You'll also discover their first imaginative play!

Want to learn more about an open toy cupboard where your child can reach toys independently? Read my blog post: How to store toys in an open toy cupboard.

Beanbag play ideas - beanbag activities for your toddler

Caution! The bean bags are filled with small items. They are securely stitched shut, but they can still get damaged. Therefore, use the bean bags only under adult supervision for children under 3 years of age.

Loading and unloading bean bags

You might recognize this. Your little one can entertain themselves for hours by putting toys in and then taking them out again. From 12 to 30 months, your child is interested in order and moving things around. This manifests itself in the loading and unloading of items. Beanbags are a great material for loading and unloading. Give them a basket, a box, or a wooden truck with a loading platform. Offer them with different-sized openings to increase the difficulty.

Crawling games with beanbags

If your toddler isn't walking yet but is avidly crawling, you can come up with all sorts of crawling games. For example, throw a beanbag a short distance away and have them crawl towards it. Once they've got the beanbag, throw another one a little further away. Fun guaranteed.

Looking for more of a challenge? How about a small obstacle course where your little one crawls from beanbag to beanbag while crawling over, between, or under things. This makes crawling even more fun and challenging.

Learn to stack and knock down towers

Although toddlers don't really start stacking independently until they're between 12 and 18 months old, they can already knock down towers! Start with your child by stacking beanbags and then pushing the tower over. This game teaches your toddler about balance and cause and effect: if you push against something, it will fall.
Show them how to stack the bean bags again and your toddler will soon try it too.

Bean bag hide and seek

Hide the beanbags around the living room and let your toddler find them! This simple game is a great way to play together. For a toddler, choose hiding places that are visible. A toddler can't yet figure out that it's in a cupboard or hidden somewhere. The fun thing about this game is that everyone in the family can join in.

Throw bean bags off the table

You probably recognize it: toddlers love to throw things (or food) off the table. This is perfectly normal behavior, and it helps your child understand a lot about the world around them. If your child throws a beanbag off the table, it makes a sound when it falls. This teaches your child about cause and effect: if I let go of something, it falls down. It's also a way to explain gravity. to discover. It's a perfect opportunity to let your child practice throwing beanbags, which are much safer than hard objects.

Learning to throw beanbags

Is your toddler also a fanatic climber? Then let them climb up something and throw from a height. With us, they climb onto the sofa and throw from the armrest into a basket. Throwing from a height requires a different skill than throwing from the ground. Need more inspiration? In this blog post, you'll find 10 beanbag throwing games .

Learn what you can and cannot throw

Around the age of one, children start experimenting with throwing things or dropping them on purpose. It's helpful to have something at home they can throw. So, say your child is throwing wooden blocks and you think it's a bad idea. Point this out and direct your child to the beanbags to continue throwing. I wrote a blog post about how to use beanbags to gently restrain your child from throwing toys .

Order and what is in front, behind, next to and between?

A child is between 1 and 3 years old interested in order. They want to understand their environment and make it predictable. By for example bean bags By putting them in a row, they create order in the chaos around them.
Organizing objects helps your child recognize and understand patterns. It also practices logical thinking. Creating a row or pattern supports learning concepts such as in front, behind, next to, and between.

Sensory discovery basket

A sensory discovery basket is a great way to further develop your toddler's senses. Fill a basket with different items for your child to explore, such as sensory bean bags , a ball, a wooden toy, and a play cloth . Children always find it fascinating to feel different materials, and putting them in and out of the basket helps develop fine motor skills.

Color sorting with bean bags

Once your toddler becomes more aware of colors, you can use rainbow beanbags to encourage color sorting. For example, set out Stapelstein toys or other rainbow-colored toys and have your child place the beanbags next to the correct color. This is a fantastic way to encourage color sorting. Want to encourage language development as well? Name the color as soon as your child places the beanbag next to the correct color.

More of a pastel fan? Color sorting is also possible with the pastel beanbags . However, the colors have less contrast, which can make it harder for your child to distinguish between them.

The first fantasy game, beds for dolls

Around age 18 months, your child's imagination begins to develop. One of the first pretend play games you'll see with beanbags is making beds for figurines or small animals. Pretend play helps develop your child's imagination and contributes to their creativity. Want to encourage color recognition? Then choose the rainbow beanbags combined with wooden rainbow figurines. Or the pastel beanbags with other pastel-colored toys.

Even more fantasy play, beanbags in the play kitchen

The bean bags also fit perfectly in the play kitchen. Use them as Pretend cakes at a tea party. As ingredients for soup, or perhaps pizza. Imagination and role-play help your child understand the adult world and act out scenarios they experience themselves.

A road for cars and other open-ended toys

Build a road for cars with beanbags and use other open-ended toys. A wooden rainbow bridge, wooden peg dolls for trees or passengers waiting for the bus, and blue and green play cloths to create water and grass.

Practicing course and balance

Beanbags also make very useful stepping stones in an obstacle course or monkey cage. Once your child has more balance, they can walk on the beanbags. Because the filling inside the beanbags moves when you step on them, your child has to regain their balance. You also stimulate their sense of touch by standing on the sensory bags with your foot, helping your toddler further develop their motor skills.

Beanbags for building sturdy huts

Building forts is so much fun! It creates a cozy space for play and role-play. Beanbags are very handy as weights for play cloths or blankets when building forts. This way, the blankets stay in place much better. Handy!

De-stimulation basket

From age 18 months, you can introduce a de-stimulating basket, filled with items to help your little one calm down. Add a few of the natural sensory bean bags to the basket. These can help with relaxation and are perfect for moments when your little one needs to de-stimulate.

Matching activities with bean bags

From 18 months onward, your child will learn to recognize similarities and differences. A matching activity is a fun game to play together. You can choose two identical bean bag sets and then place the matching bean bags together. Alternatively, you can take photos of each bean bag. Print these out and then place the correct bean bag next to the correct photo.

Beanbags are versatile and educational toys for your toddler.

The versatility of bean bags makes them such a great toy. From babies and toddlers to preschoolers, the possibilities are endless. Use them as open-ended toys, like doll beds, pretend cakes, a road, or stepping stones. Or as educational toys to help your child recognize colors, sort, stack, or learn to throw.

These play bags are incredibly versatile and belong in every family with young children. Below you'll find more pages packed with play inspiration, featuring bean bags categorized by age group.

I think it's important to emphasize that all the ages mentioned for a child developing a particular skill are just an indication. Every child develops at their own pace and in their own way. If your child is a few months earlier or later, that's perfectly fine. Are you concerned about your child's development? Discuss this with a professional.