Bean Bag Games for PE: 30 Fun Activities for Tossing, Catching, Balance, and Partner Play
Updated: 2 hours ago
Bean bags are a great way to add excitement to any PE class. You can use them in all kinds of PE games and activities, and they get kids moving in and around your teaching space. Bean bags are one of my go-to pieces of equipment because they're versatile, durable, and easy to store. They're also a great value, since you can get a lot of them for a small cost.
Pics from Tracy Angel @Mrs_Coach_Angel
Quick Answer: Bean bags are one of the most versatile pieces of PE equipment. Students can use them to practice tossing and catching, foot and body tricks, balance challenges, target tosses, and partner activities. They're cheap, durable, easy to catch, and work at stations, in relays, in the classroom, or at home.
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Why Use Bean Bags in PE?
You can use bean bag activities at school or at home to teach lots of skills and PE concepts quickly and easily. Bean bags help students build manipulative skills like tossing, catching, and throwing. They also build skill-related fitness like agility, balance, coordination, and reaction time. Plus, bean bags are easy to grip, easy to catch, and easy to balance, so younger students find success right away.
Beanbag Challenges: Practice Style
How to Use Bean Bags in PE
Bean bags are a common sight in PE classes all over the world. They're an easy way for students to work on their own, with a partner, or in small groups.
Bean bags are perfect for stations and relays when your equipment closet is limited. You can use them in a large group game with two teams as items to capture, toss, throw, or balance. You can also send bean bag activities home for students to do with their families. It's a great way to get support from the people who matter most!
Do Bean Bag Activities Help Address PE Standards?
Bean bags are fun for students, and they also get students working on SHAPE America's Standard 1: Develops a variety of motor skills.* The bean bag activities you choose for your lessons can also meet your state and district standards.
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30 Fun Bean Bag Activities for PE, the Classroom, or Home
Get your students moving with these 30 fun bean bag activities!
Students can do these activities on their own, teach them to a partner, or work through them at stations around your playing area.
1. Toss and Catch (6 Activities)
Two-Hand Catch: Toss the bean bag up with 1 hand and catch it in front of your body with 2 hands.
One-Hand Catch: Toss the bean bag up with 1 or 2 hands and catch it in front of your body with only 1 hand.
Rainbow Toss: Toss the bean bag across your body from 1 hand to the other. It should travel in a rainbow shape.
Toss, Clap, Catch: Toss the bean bag up and clap once (or a few times) before you catch it.
Toss, Touch, Catch: Toss the bean bag up and touch the ground before you catch it.
Toss, Turn, Catch: Toss the bean bag up and turn all the way around before you catch it.
2. Foot Tricks (3 Activities)
Kick-Up Catch: Put the bean bag on 1 foot and kick it up in the air. Catch it before it hits the ground.
Kick-Up to Back: Put the bean bag on 1 foot and kick it up in the air. Bend over and catch it on the flat part of your back.
Two-Foot Release: Squeeze the bean bag between your feet and jump up. Release the bean bag in midair, then catch it.
3. Body Tricks (5 Activities)
Toss and Catch on Back: Toss the bean bag up and catch it on your back. Keep your back nice and flat for success.
Behind the Back Toss: With 1 hand, reach behind your back and toss the bean bag up and over your shoulder. Catch it in front of you.
Behind the Back Catch: Toss the bean bag up and turn halfway around. Catch it with 2 hands behind your back.
Under the Leg Toss: Lift 1 leg, reach under it, and toss the bean bag up. Catch it with 1 hand.
Under the Leg Catch: Toss the bean bag up, lift 1 leg, and reach under it to catch the bean bag.
4. Balance Activities (6 Activities)
Head Balance Sit: Balance a bean bag on your head while standing. Slowly sit down and stand back up while keeping it balanced.
Head Balance Walk: Place a bean bag on your head and walk carefully around the room. If it falls, do 1 spin before you pick it up.
Body Part Balances: Balance the bean bag on different body parts like your shoulders, elbows, knees, chest, and heels.
Lying Feet Balance: Lie on your back with the bean bag balanced on your feet. Raise and lower your legs several times without dropping it.
Balance Push-Up: Get in a push-up position and balance a bean bag on your back. Do a few push-ups or hold a plank.
Crab Walk Balance: Get in a crab position and balance a bean bag on your stomach. Crab walk around the room while you keep it balanced.
5. Target Tosses (4 Activities)
Toss to a Hoop: Take 3 to 5 giant steps away from a hula hoop on the ground. Toss the bean bag into the hoop.
Toss to a Bucket: Take 3 to 5 giant steps away from a bucket or bin. Toss the bean bag into the bucket.
Toss to a Poly Spot: Take 3 to 5 giant steps away from a poly spot on the ground. Toss the bean bag onto the spot.
Toss to a Cone: Set a cone upside down (open end toward you) in a chair or bucket. Take 3 to 5 giant steps back and toss the bean bag into the cone.
You can find the visuals shown above in my TPT store: Beanbag Task Cards. For even more tossing and catching practice, check out my Beanbag Skill Challenge Task Cards.
6. Partner and Trio Activities (6 Activities)
Partner Slide: Sit across from your partner and slide the bean bag back and forth on the floor.
Partner Toss: From a comfortable distance, toss and catch a bean bag with a partner. Try catching with 1 hand or 2 hands.
2 Bag Partner Toss: From a comfortable distance, toss and catch with a partner using 2 bean bags. Both partners toss at the same time.
Create a Move: Use your body and 1 bean bag to create a movement. Then challenge your partner to copy it. Be creative, stay in your space, and stay safe.
Throw It Through: One partner holds a hula hoop at different heights while the other tosses a bean bag through it. Change the tossing distance to add a challenge.
Short Line Relays: In short lines of 2 to 4, students take turns doing a bean bag task (like balancing it on their head) to the finish line and back.
Beanbag Movement Activities: Short Line Relays (3 in a Line)
Final Thoughts
Bean bags add a fun, challenging element to your PE lessons. You can use them for everything from target tosses to partner games, so you're sure to find lots of activities that work for your students. With a little creativity, you and your students can come up with your own challenges, too. I think you'll find these 30 bean bag activities really useful, whether you use them as an instant activity, at stations, or for a whole lesson. The most important thing is to get your students moving and having fun! If you'd like a full plan, my Beanbag Skills Unit has 10 K-5 lesson plans, and my Beanbag PE Bundle puts the unit, task cards, and skill challenges together.
Which bean bag activities are your favorites? Let me know in the comments below!
*National Physical Education Standards are used under license from SHAPE America. © 2024, SHAPE America, https://www.shapeamerica.org/. All rights reserved.
A big thank you to Tracy Angel for the awesome student pics in the title photo. Check out her great posts on X @Mrs_Coach_Angel!
Need Resources?
Do you need PE equipment challenge cards to help you teach activities like the ones in this post? Would it help to have easy-to-use visuals with clear instructions and great graphics?
Fill in the form below to download 28 FREE fun and active PE Equipment Challenge Cards with a variety of manipulative and movement skills for your PE classes.
The set is a PDF digital download with four cards from each of these equipment, skill, and movement challenge card sets: 1. Balloon Challenges, 2. Beanbag Challenges, 3. Pool Noodle Challenges, 4. Hula Hoop Challenges, 5. Playground Ball Challenges, 6. Jump Rope Challenges, and 7. Cup Stacking Challenges.
You'll use this freebie set in your PE program for years!
If you want to add even more to your PE program, check out my 20 Set PE Equipment Challenge Card Super Bundle. It has over 480 PE equipment teaching visuals from 20 different sets!
You can find this bundle in my TPT store: PE Activities Using Gym Equipment 20 Resource Skill & Movement Super Bundle
This visual collection helps you teach lots of movement and manipulative skills with 20 pieces of PE equipment: balloons, bean bags, stacking cups, pool noodles, juggling scarves, hula hoops, tumbling mats, long jump ropes, short jump ropes, scooter boards, cones and poly spots, dice, Lummi sticks, long-handled implements, short-handled implements, basketballs, beach balls, footballs, playground balls, and soccer balls.
About Pete Charrette
Pete Charrette is a National Board Certified physical education teacher and former Georgia PE Teacher of the Year with more than 30 years of experience teaching elementary PE. He is the creator of Cap'n Pete's Power PE and has developed hundreds of ready-to-use PE and health resources used by teachers around the world. Pete loves helping PE teachers build programs their students enjoy.
