What To Do With Those Beanbags

If you are starting a new job in a new classroom and suddenly find yourself with a bin full of beanbags you don't know what to do with, or you have had them for a while and feel like you're not getting as much use out of them as you should, this post is for you! In this post you'll find tips for managing their use with students, plus plenty of ways to use them in lessons from Kindergarten through 6th grade!

1. Management tips

One of the most common issues that can turn a fun movement prop into a headache is the immediate tossing and playing around that happens when you're passing them out. Now you can't give directions for the activity because they're only paying attention to the beanbag in their hands, after you just told them to leave it on the floor! Here are a few ways I avoid that problem depending on the age of the students, situation, and honestly my mood at the time:

1) I give all of my instructions, including having students practice any movements we need to work on before we start the actual activity, before handing out the beanbags. This strategy is one I use pretty much every time- once the beanbags are in front of them their brains just aren't going to be as focused as they are when they're motivated to want to get one! I explain what we are doing and have them practice any specific moves in the air with an imaginary beanbags, then quickly hand them out and jump right into it before anything gets out of hand.

2) Tell students to treat the beanbags like instruments: if you play (touch) before I say, you'll make the instrument (beanbag) go away! I use this especially with my younger grades by having them put their hands in their laps while sitting on the floor and setting the beanbags down on the floor in front of them so they don't touch them at all until we're ready to begin.

3) Give them some time to explore. For middle grades sometimes I find the best strategy is to give them what they want: time to explore what the beanbag feels like and have some fun with it before I ask them to only use it in the specific way I want. Any time I do this I tell them they can "test them out" until I turn off the lights, then give them a minute before I turn off the lights and have them set the beanbags down. 

2. Lesson Ideas

Early Childhood/ Adaptive music: I discovered a new favorite use for my beanbags this year: using them as quieter, safer, sturdier alternatives to egg shakers! I had some students who were new to our building and were very impulsive with any objects they were given at the beginning of the year, so even a pretty sturdy plastic egg shaker was likely to get broken, but they really did respond well to the egg shaker songs I had so I wanted to be able to continue them without breaking any more instruments. My beanbags were a perfect substitute that gave them a chance to practice following directions and responding to the music by shaking with the steady beat etc, as well as add in other fun ways to use them like tossing them or tapping them on our knees, without worrying about anything breaking.

1st/ 2nd grade: With lower elementary grades, bean bags are a great way to mix up steady beat movement activities. Even though steady beat is mainly a focus in my Kindergarten curriculum, it's one of those things students still need a lot of regular practice with, especially in 1st and 2nd grade! But they don't want to just repeat the songs they did in Kindergarten. I use them most often by turning on a track with a clear beat and asking students to take turns suggesting a way to use the beanbags on the beat- usually tapping a specific body part like knees, tummy, head, or shoulder, but sometimes other moves like passing it back and forth between their hands etc.

3rd/4th grade: With my middle grades I use beanbags to practice showing duple and triple meter. By this age they can usually control it pretty well while tossing the beanbags so they can still catch them and keep them in their own space, so I will have students do a "left hand- right hand- toss" movement sequence with a triple meter song, or pass them back and forth between their two hands for a duple meter song to feel the difference between the two meters. The tossing adds a level of challenge that is just right for this age!

5th grade: I have 2 beanbag passing games that are always a huge hit with my 5th graders: Bhombela and Take Five. Bhombela is a song from southern Africa including Mozambique so I use it in my unit with 5th grade on Mozambique, and the jazz song Take Five is a great way to introduce uncommon time signatures. Check the linked videos for demonstrations of how to use the beanbags with each of these songs.

6th grade: I use one other beanbag passing game in 6th grade that is also a big hit and is perfect for introducing dotted quarter/ single eighth rhythms: Al Citron. This is another activity that is the perfect level of challenge for this age group to keep students engaged and motivated to repeat it over and over again, which is just what I want when I need students to get used to a new rhythm! 

If you've found it difficult to teach passing games, here is my post explaining the strategies I started using a few years ago that made all the difference in the world for getting students to be successful with passing games!

I hope this gives you some fresh ideas to help you use your beanbags (or maybe inspire you to get some for your classroom)! They are an excellent kid-friendly, cost-effective tool for teaching steady beat, form, meter, and rhythm. And if you have more beanbag activities you love to use in music lessons, please let me know in the comments!