Touch the Beanbag with Your Knee

Beanbags are "sleeping" all over the floor while children jog between them; when the drum stops, the teacher names a body part and everyone touches a beanbag with it. It warms up the body while naming and using different body parts.

How to play

1. Scatter the beanbags on the floor and jog between them without stepping on them (1 min).
2. The drum stops and the teacher calls "Hand!": touch a beanbag with your hand and keep jogging (1 min).
3. Switch body parts: knee, foot, elbow, bottom (2 min).
4. Now two parts at once: one foot and one hand on the same beanbag (1 min).
5. A child picks the body part and everyone follows (1 min).

Rules

• I jog without stepping on the beanbags.
• If someone is already at a beanbag, I find another one.
• I touch gently, I don't dive on it.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: a child in a wheelchair touches beanbags placed on a low table with hand, elbow or shoulder.
• Hearing loss: show a picture card of the body part as well as saying it.
• Autism: before starting, practice each body part on their own beanbag without moving around.

Learning goals

• Warm up with light jogging and stops.
• Recognize and name body parts.
• Move through the space without bumping or stepping on objects.

Equipment for a class of 25

• beanbags: 25
• hand drum: 1

Teacher tip

Put out more beanbags than children so no one has to wait. Point to the part on your own body as you say it; 3-year-olds follow the gesture more than the word.

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