Sensory Discovery: First Bean Bag Games for Babies (0-12 Months)

Your baby's development between 0 and 12 months

During the first year, a lot of magical things happen in your baby's development. Play plays a crucial role in this. Your baby is starting to discover how their body works. First, they try to lift their head, then they start holding things, followed by grasping. And before you know it, they're suddenly rolling over! Around 3 months, your baby can hold something, and from 4 months on, they'll start reaching for things. That's the perfect time to introduce toys like beanbags .

Discover the world playfully with sensory toys

Sensory development is incredibly important in your baby's first year. Playing with sensory toys helps them develop their senses. Your baby will feel different textures, see colors and contrasts, hear surprising sounds, and might even try to see if a bean bag is edible. They'll also learn cause and effect, such as: when I shake a bean bag, it makes a sound! Or: when I lift a bean bag, it feels different than when I lift a soft play mat . Your baby explores the world through play.

Beanbag play ideas - first beanbag games for your baby

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

Feeling and tasting bean bags

Your baby's first encounter with the sensory bean bags will be a matter of touch and taste. This is how babies explore. The bean bags are filled with cherry and grape seeds. They can get wet and you can even wash them by hand. So they're also perfectly suitable for oral exploration. 

Don't use bean bags filled with rice or sand. These can become moldy if they get wet. That's why the Little Botanic label only makes bean bags filled with cherry and grape seeds.

Tummy time with bean bags

Tummytime means placing your baby on their tummy. This helps develop their neck and back muscles and supports overall motor development. Once your baby can grasp toys, you can make tummytime more interesting with bean bags. Place your baby on their tummy with two bean bags of different textures in front of them. For example, the white teddy bear and a muslin bean bag from the nature bean bag set .

Lift, shake and listen with bean bags

Because the sensory bean bags are filled with different materials, each one sounds different when your baby picks it up. This makes them the perfect sensory toys for babies. Those filled with cherry pits make more and different sounds than those filled with grape seeds. This makes lifting and shaking the bean bags incredibly interesting for your baby.

Besides the different fillings, we also use different fabric textures. This gives each bean bag a unique feel. This makes the bean bags ideal as sensory toys for babies. Lifting and shaking bean bags isn't just a sensory experience; it also helps your baby grow stronger and maintain balance.

Throw bean bags off the table

You might recognize this. Babies, but also toddlers , love to throw things (or food) off the table. This is perfectly normal and helps your child understand several things, like the cause and effect of dropping something. Your baby throws a beanbag off the table, it falls down, and then makes a sound. This is usually followed by a reaction from Mom or Dad, who picks up the beanbag and returns it.

Your child will also learn about gravity. Because when you let go of something, it moves downward. Interesting! Experiencing gravity also involves sensory experiences, namely seeing, hearing, and feeling an object fall or even bounce. Each experience provides new information about texture, sound, and weight.

Put bean bags in baskets (and then take them out)

Your baby has a natural urge to understand the world through experimentation. Putting beanbags in and out is a game for understanding the world. This helps your child practice fine motor skills. Your baby has to grasp the beanbag, lift it, move it towards the basket, and then let go.

Babies find it fascinating to see their actions have a result. They put the beanbag in a basket, and it disappears! Pure magic! When your baby takes the beanbag out again, it reappears!

In my webshop I also sell high-quality, sustainable storage baskets that will last throughout your childhood.

Learning to play while sitting and keeping balance

The sensory bags are also a great baby toy to play with while sitting. When your baby sits independently, they use their abdominal and back muscles to maintain balance. Playing with bean bags while sitting stimulates this even more. Your child has to stretch, turn, and maintain their balance while grasping or placing the bean bags. And picking up, holding, and moving bean bags also refines their eye-hand coordination.

Important: Don't let your child sit and play until they can sit independently. Their abdominal and back muscles must be strong enough for this. Children usually sit independently between 6 and 9 months.

Knocking over bean bag piles

A baby can't stack independently yet, but knocking over stacks is fun! Especially when Mom or Dad has just finished the tower. This also teaches your child cause and effect. If I push against it, it falls over! It also requires balance. Because if you push too hard, you'll fall over too. An added bonus: guaranteed laughter, because nothing is as much fun as knocking over stacks.

Transferring a beanbag from one hand to the other

Transferring something from one hand to the other is a skill babies learn between 6 and 9 months old. Of course, you can turn this into fun games to play together.

Give your baby a beanbag and let them discover how to transfer it from one hand to the other. You can encourage this by demonstrating it (slowly) yourself. Another way is to hand them a beanbag and have your baby take it from you, one at a time. Your baby will understand the game and return the beanbag to you.

Stimulate crawling with bean bags

If your baby wants to start crawling, you can use the bean bags as a playful incentive. They'll probably be eager to explore the bean bag. By placing the colorful bean bags just out of reach, you encourage your child to discover how to move forward.

Most babies start crawling between 7 and 10 months. Slide the beanbags across the floor instead of throwing them. This stimulates the crawling movement more than throwing.

Crawling games with babies and beanbags

Is your little one already enthusiastically crawling? That's a wonderful phase, and it offers the opportunity for even more beanbag games.

For example, throw a beanbag a short distance away from your child and let them crawl to it. Once your child has the playbag, throw another a little further away. Once your child has crawled to the next beanbag, throw the next one a little further away again. Fun guaranteed.

Or how about a small obstacle course with sensory bean bags to encourage your baby to crawl over, between, or under things to reach the next bean bag? This makes practicing crawling even more fun and challenging.

Sensory toy basket

A sensory toy basket is a basket filled with different items for your child to discover. Here's how to make a sensory discovery basket . Choose 3-5 different types of baby toys made from different materials. Put them together in a storage basket . For example: 2 sensory bean bags, 1 ball, 1 wooden block, and 1 play cloth . Your child will find it interesting to explore different materials. After all, you only learn what is hard and soft, or smooth and rough, by experiencing it. Sensory discovery baskets are fun for children ages 6 months to about 2 years.

Beanbags are sustainable baby toys that grow with you

The sensory bean bag is a fantastic plastic-free toy for your baby. As you can see, it offers endless playtime fun. These are just some ideas for babies up to 1 year old. For babies, it's primarily used as a sensory and educational toy. The older your child gets, the more it becomes an open-ended toy. Below, you'll find more blogs with play ideas for older children and bean bag toys. This toy grows with your child.

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.

The sensory bean bags are fantastic , sustainable baby toys and a perfect baby gift . Excited? View all baby toys here.