Materials:

• beanbags
• music

Objective: Children will develop listening skills, cooperative-play skills, and physical-coordination and balancing skills as they engage in this movement activity.

In Advance: Collect enough beanbags so that each child in the class has one. If you need more, you may ask parent volunteers to sew beanbags for the class or fill airtight plastic sandwich bags with beans or sand.

ACTIVITY

1 Give all the children beanbags. Ask them to place the beanbag on top of their heads and balance them as they walk around a specified area of the classroom.

2 Explain that you will play music as they walk around the classroom. When the music stops, every child will freeze, keeping his beanbag balanced on top of his head.

3 Now add another element of fim to the game: When a beanbag falls from a child's head, he will freeze. The only way the children can defrost and move again is when another child picks up the beanbag (while still balancing his own) and places it back on top of his friend's head. The two children will then move around together as partners.

4 What else can they do with a beanbag on top of their heads? Invite the children to think of other ways they can move while balancing a beanbag. Can children move from a sitting position to a standing position? Can they hop on one foot or turn in a circle? What can they do with a partner?

5 Small beanbag toys are all the rage these days with four- and five-year-olds. Suggest to the children that they can practice this skill at home with one of their beanbag pets. Can they balance more than one pet on their heads? Invite them to share beanbag adventures at circle time.

Curriculum Connection

Cooking/Math/Language: Bean Investigation Place a variety of dried beans into small bowls. Give the children sorting trays, egg cartons, or paper plates and invite them to sort the beans. How many types of beans are there? Ask the children to describe how the beans are alike and different. Do they know the names of the different types of bean? Create a language experience chart that describes each type of bean. Cook the beans. Encourage the children to taste the different beans. Record the children's observations.