DIY bean bags – and 5 bean bag games to play with your preschooler

This is a sponsored post on behalf of Terminix. All opinions – as always – are my own.

Summertime is here, and my son is only going to his summer program part-time. Meaning there are 4 days where he can complain about being bored. My son loves things that will keep him active, but he also needs to be challenged a bit. One challenging thing he likes? Hula hoops. Another challenge? Throwing things – and hitting targets. (By targets I mean getting a ball into a hoop, a disc into a basket. You get the idea, right?) 

I found hula hoops months a while ago (at Easter time, I believe) and thought they’d be fun for yard games, in addition to regular hula hooping. Since my son loves to throw things, I thought it would be fun to give him bean bags to toss into hula hoops that I set in the yard. Depending on where he’s standing, this can be a challenge for him.

Oh, and I made bean bags. I’m not able to find bean bags easily (locally), and I have a ton of fabric. I was not aiming to make them a certain weight or exact size. I just wanted a preschooler to be able to toss them.

What you need:
Fabric
Bean bag filler

1. My fabric was about 15 inches wide. I folded it over so I would have a piece that was about 14 inches by 15 inches, and then cut it into 4 pieces. 
2. Fold your fabric in half, with the right sides facing each other. 
3. Sew along the three open sides, leaving about 2 inches open. Clip the corners so the fabric is easier to turn (and your corners don’t bunch.) Turn the fabric right side out. Using a funnel (or a sheet of paper rolled like a funnel), pour the bean bag filling into your fabric. Leave enough space that it’s not overstuffed and you can’t sew the bag closed. 
4. Either hand stitch the bag closed, or sew in your machine. I sewed along the opening twice, so it’s a little more reinforced.
5. The 16 ounces of filling was enough for about 3 bean bags. I will probably order two more bags of the filling, so I can make at least 4 or 5 more bags (I need plenty for Tic-Tac-Toe!) 

Five bean bag games/activities your child can play: 

Toss. Just toss the bean bags! They generally aren’t too heavy and it’s going to be hard to break anything with them – as long as you don’t make them too big. 

Toss through a hoop. You’ll need to hold a hoop or prop a hula hoop up, but this helps my son throw through something – or throw to me. 

Tossing into the hoop. Lay the hoop(s) down and have your child back away far enough that tossing the bean bags is a challenge. If you have multiple hoops, you can create multiple targets. 

Tic-tac-toe! How fun would it be to draw out a tic-tac-toe board with sidewalk chalk and then use two different color bean bags to play the game? SO fun. And now I need to order more bean bag filler. 

Cornhole. This came up a few times on my Instagram photo. My son has played cornhole at parties, but we obviously let him move closer to the boards to get the bean bags in. 

How are you keeping your child engaged this summer? (True story – my son went to work with my husband last week and thrived on a schedule. We’re making schedules for babysitters if they have to stay with him this summer!)

Check out more crafts! I’ve been on a roll lately.