• 24 games
  • Checked October 2026

Bean Bag Games for PE

Bean bags to toss, catch, balance, carry and slide with a foot, in numbered steps for a gym class.

Bean Bag Games for PE

Show all 7
  1. Leapfrog Catch1. A catching game that crosses the gym. Partners stand on one end line, three steps apart, with one bean bag.2. The first partner tosses underhand to the second, then runs past to a spot three steps farther on and turns to catch the next toss.3. Each catch lets the tosser run ahead. After a drop, both partners go back three steps and carry on from there.4. Count the tosses it takes to reach the far end line. Cross back and try to do it in fewer.Ages: 8 to 14. Players: 2 to 30. You need: one bean bag for each pair.
  2. Bean Bag Four Square1. Four square with a toss and a catch in place of a bounce. Tape a square split into four boxes, each three steps wide, and number them. One player stands in each box, and the others wait in a short line.2. The player in box four lobs the bean bag underhand, higher than a head, into any other box.3. The player in that box has to catch it before it lands and lob it on at once. A bean bag that lands in your box, or a lob that lands outside the court, sends you to the back of the line.4. The players behind move up a box to fill the gap, and the next player in line steps into box one.Ages: 8 to 14. Players: 5 to 32. You need: tape and one bean bag for each court of five to eight players.
  3. Make the Set1. A grouping game with no talking. Everyone walks around the gym holding a bean bag where others can see its color.2. The teacher calls a set, such as "three different colors" or "four of one color".3. Players form groups whose bean bags make that set and sit down together with the bean bags in the middle. Point and beckon, but do not speak.4. Players left over join the teacher as checkers for that round. Walk on, and trade bean bags with two people before the next call.Ages: 6 to 11. Players: 9 to 30. You need: a bean bag each, in at least three colors.

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All 24 games

Whole-class bean bag games 7

  • Bean Bag Four Square 1. Four square with a toss and a catch in place of a bounce. Tape a square split into four boxes, each three steps wide, and number them. One player stands in each box, and the others wait in a short line. 2. The player in box four lobs the bean bag underhand, higher than a head, into any other box. 3. The player in that box has to catch it before it lands and lob it on at once. A bean bag that lands in your box, or a lob that lands outside the court, sends you to the back of the line. 4. The players behind move up a box to fill the gap, and the next player in line steps into box one. Ages: 8 to 14. Players: 5 to 32. You need: tape and one bean bag for each court of five to eight players.
  • Exactly Ten 1. An adding game on the run. Scatter bean bags of three colors in the middle of the gym. One color is worth one, one is worth two and one is worth three. Every player has a hoop at the edge. 2. On the whistle, fetch one bean bag at a time and lay it in your own hoop. 3. Stop when your hoop adds up to exactly ten, and sit beside it. A bean bag may be carried back and swapped for another. 4. Check a neighbor's sum. Then play to twelve, or to exactly ten with five bean bags. Ages: 7 to 11. Players: 4 to 30. You need: bean bags in three colors, about six for each player, a hoop each and a card that says what each color is worth.
  • Feet Only Circle 1. A keep-up game with the feet. Groups of four or five stand in a small ring with one bean bag. 2. One player drops it onto a foot or a knee and pops it up. The group keeps it off the floor with feet, knees and thighs only. 3. Count the touches aloud. A hand on the bean bag, or a bean bag on the floor, ends the count. 4. Start again and try to beat the group's best. A count stands only if at least three players touched the bean bag. Ages: 10 to 14. Players: 4 to 30. You need: one bean bag for each group of four or five.
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Whole-class bean bag games, continued

  • Gate Dribble 1. Dribbling with the feet, with a ball that cannot roll away. Set about twenty gates around the gym, each a pair of cones one step apart. Every player has a bean bag on the floor. 2. Slide the bean bag along the floor with the inside of either foot, never with a kick, and take it through as many gates as you can. 3. No gate twice in a row. A gate with a player in it is closed, so go to another. 4. On the whistle, trap the bean bag under one foot. Play again and try to beat your own count. Ages: 6 to 10. Players: 6 to 30. You need: a bean bag each and about forty cones.
  • Leapfrog Catch 1. A catching game that crosses the gym. Partners stand on one end line, three steps apart, with one bean bag. 2. The first partner tosses underhand to the second, then runs past to a spot three steps farther on and turns to catch the next toss. 3. Each catch lets the tosser run ahead. After a drop, both partners go back three steps and carry on from there. 4. Count the tosses it takes to reach the far end line. Cross back and try to do it in fewer. Ages: 8 to 14. Players: 2 to 30. You need: one bean bag for each pair.
  • Make the Set 1. A grouping game with no talking. Everyone walks around the gym holding a bean bag where others can see its color. 2. The teacher calls a set, such as "three different colors" or "four of one color". 3. Players form groups whose bean bags make that set and sit down together with the bean bags in the middle. Point and beckon, but do not speak. 4. Players left over join the teacher as checkers for that round. Walk on, and trade bean bags with two people before the next call. Ages: 6 to 11. Players: 9 to 30. You need: a bean bag each, in at least three colors.
  • Swap on the Drum 1. A moving and meeting game. Everyone jogs around the gym with a bean bag in one hand. 2. On one drum beat, stop beside the nearest player and swap bean bags hand to hand. On two beats, stand two steps apart and swap with an underhand toss. 3. Find someone new for every swap. 4. On three beats, put your bean bag on the floor and jog on. At the next beat, pick up any bean bag but the one you put down. Ages: 5 to 9. Players: 6 to 30. You need: a bean bag each and a drum.

Target and toss games 5

  • Capture the Hoops 1. A team target game in which hoops change hands. Scatter twelve hoops between two and six steps from a throwing line. Two teams stand side by side behind the line, one with red bean bags and one with blue. 2. On "toss", every player holding a bean bag lobs it underhand at any hoop. 3. A hoop belongs to the color with more bean bags inside it, so a hoop can be won back. Equal numbers mean nobody owns it. 4. On "fetch", both teams collect only the bean bags that missed. After four rounds, count the hoops each color owns. Ages: 8 to 14. Players: 8 to 30. You need: twelve hoops and a bean bag each, in two colors.
  • Flick It Into the Hoop 1. A target shot with a foot. Lay a hoop on the floor two steps in front of a line. 2. Stand on the line with the bean bag resting on the top of one foot, and flick it up and forward so that it lands in the hoop. 3. Five flicks, then your partner's turn. A bean bag has to stay inside the hoop to count. 4. A player who lands three out of five moves the hoop one step farther away, or changes to the other foot. Ages: 7 to 12. Players: 2 to 30. You need: a bean bag and a hoop for each pair.
  • Fly-By 1. A toss made on the move. Lay three hoops in a row, a few steps apart, and tape a running lane beside them, two steps to the side. 2. Jog down the lane holding three bean bags and toss one underhand into each hoop as you pass. No stopping. 3. Score one for each bean bag that stays in a hoop. Collect your bean bags, hand them to the next runner and walk back outside the lane. 4. Second time through, run the lane the other way, so that the hoops are on your other side. Ages: 7 to 12. Players: 4 to 30. You need: three hoops, three bean bags and tape for each group of four.
  • Mat Golf 1. A golf course for bean bags. Lay six mats around the gym as the greens and number them with cones. Start each group of three at a different mat. 2. Stand on your mat and toss underhand toward the next number. Take the next toss from where the bean bag stopped. 3. Count every toss until the bean bag stops on the mat. Partners keep each other's counts. 4. After six mats, add up the tosses. Play the course again and try to take one toss off your total. Ages: 7 to 14. Players: 3 to 30. You need: six mats, six numbered cones and a bean bag each.
  • Raft to Raft 1. A team catching game between two mats. Lay two mats four steps apart: the rafts. Half the team stands on each, and one raft has a crate of twelve bean bags. 2. Toss the supplies across one at a time, underhand. A catch counts only if both of the catcher's feet stay on the raft. 3. A dropped bean bag is lost in the water and stays there until the round ends. Count the supplies that arrive. 4. Slide the rafts one step farther apart, send the supplies back and try to match the count. Ages: 8 to 14. Players: 6 to 30. You need: two mats and twelve bean bags in a crate for each team of six.

Balance and carry games 6

  • Bean Bag Elevator 1. A balancing game played on one spot. Stand tall with a bean bag on your head and your arms out. 2. First floor is kneeling on both knees. Go down and come back up without a hand on the bean bag. 3. Ground floor is sitting cross-legged on the floor. The basement is lying flat on your back, where the bean bag may rest on your forehead. 4. A bean bag that falls goes back on at the floor where it fell. Ride the elevator down and up three times, and count the drops. Ages: 6 to 11. Players: 1 to 30. You need: a bean bag each.
  • Mat Stretcher 1. A carrying game for four. Each team piles ten bean bags in the middle of a small mat and lifts the mat by its four corners. 2. Carry it around a loop of cones and back to the start with the mat flat. 3. A bean bag that slides off stays on the floor. Count the bean bags still on the mat at the end. 4. Second lap, every carrier holds a corner with one hand only. Third lap, the team may not speak. Ages: 8 to 14. Players: 4 to 28. You need: a small mat and ten bean bags for each team of four, and cones.
  • Mirror With a Bean Bag Hat 1. The mirror game, slowed down by a hat. Partners stand face to face, an arm's length apart, each with a bean bag on the head. 2. One leads with slow moves: a knee bend, arms out wide, a turn of the shoulders, a step to the side. The other is the mirror. 3. A drop from either head swaps the jobs, so a leader who moves too fast for the mirror's hat loses the lead. 4. Count the moves a pair makes before the first drop, then try to beat it. Ages: 6 to 11. Players: 2 to 30. You need: a bean bag each.
  • Pick Up a Second Hat 1. A collecting game with a hat that has to stay on. Scatter bean bags over the floor. Each team of four has a hoop at the edge of the gym. 2. Everyone balances one bean bag on the head, walks out, picks up one bean bag from the floor and carries it home to the team hoop. 3. A hat that falls is put back on before the next step, and a bean bag that was in the hand when it fell goes back on the floor. 4. When the floor is clear, count the hoops. No hand touches a hat that is on a head. Ages: 7 to 12. Players: 4 to 30. You need: two bean bags each and a hoop for each team of four.
  • Toss a Step 1. A balance walk with a catch at every step. Start at one end of a painted line with a bean bag. 2. Walk the line heel to toe. At each step, toss the bean bag to head height and catch it before the next foot goes down. 3. A dropped bean bag, or a foot off the line, sends you back to the last corner or to the start of the line. 4. Walk it once catching with two hands, once catching in one hand, and once tossing from hand to hand. Ages: 8 to 12. Players: 1 to 30. You need: a bean bag each and the lines on the gym floor.
  • Under the Rope With a Hat On 1. A balance challenge under a bar, done by bending the knees and not the back. Two holders stretch a rope level at the shoulder height of the smallest player. 2. Walk under the rope with a bean bag on your head and your hands at your sides. 3. A bean bag that falls, or a head that touches the rope, means that player goes around and tries again at the same height. Nobody is out. 4. When the whole line is through, the holders lower the rope by one hand's width. Ages: 6 to 11. Players: 4 to 30. You need: a bean bag each and a long rope.

Kindergarten bean bag games 6

  • Build It Together 1. A building game for the whole class. Everyone holds one bean bag. 2. The teacher names something to build on the floor: one long straight line, a circle big enough for the class to sit inside, the first letter of the school's name. 3. The children lay their bean bags down end to end to make it. 4. Stand back and look. Then walk around the shape on tiptoe, pick up a bean bag that is not your own and build the next one. Ages: 5 to 7. Players: 6 to 30. You need: a bean bag each.
  • Draw It on the Floor 1. A guessing game for partners. One child kneels on the floor with a bean bag. 2. Slide the bean bag along the floor to draw one big shape: a circle, a square, a triangle or a zigzag. 3. The partner watches, names the shape, then takes the bean bag and draws the same shape twice as big. 4. Swap jobs. Later, draw the first letter of your name for your partner to read. Ages: 5 to 7. Players: 2 to 30. You need: one bean bag for each pair.
  • Hand to Hand Rainbow 1. A tossing game for one child and one bean bag. Stand in a space of your own. 2. Toss the bean bag from one hand to the other in a low arc, like a small rainbow in front of your tummy. 3. After five catches, make the rainbow a little taller, up to the height of your eyes. 4. Count the catches in a row, and start again from one after a drop. Later, try it kneeling or sitting. Ages: 5 to 7. Players: 1 to 30. You need: a bean bag each.
  • Pick It Up Without Hands 1. A game of body parts. Each child sits on the floor beside a bean bag. 2. The teacher names two parts, and the children lift the bean bag off the floor with those parts and nothing else: two elbows, two wrists, two feet, two knees. 3. Hold it up for a count of three, then set it down gently. 4. Let children choose a pair of parts for the class to try, such as a chin and a shoulder. Ages: 5 to 7. Players: 1 to 30. You need: a bean bag each.
  • Toe Touch Colors 1. A color and counting game on the move. Scatter bean bags of four colors all over the floor. 2. The teacher calls a color and a number, such as "red, three". 3. Every child touches three different red bean bags with a toe, one after another, then stands still with a hand up. No bean bag is picked up or kicked. 4. Change the body part with each call: a knee, an elbow, one finger. Change the way of moving too: on tiptoe, at a gallop, with giant steps. Ages: 5 to 7. Players: 6 to 30. You need: bean bags in four colors, two or three for each child.
  • Where Is Your Bean Bag? 1. A listening game about where things are. Each child stands beside a bean bag on the floor. 2. The teacher calls a place: stand behind it, stand in front of it, jump over it, walk around it, hold it under your chin, hold it between your knees. 3. Everyone moves at once and freezes in place. 4. Later, call two in a row, such as "over it, then behind it", and let a child be the caller. Ages: 5 to 7. Players: 1 to 30. You need: a bean bag each.

How this list was compiled: Our list for a gym class, sorted by what the bean bag does. The wording, the ages and the player counts are ours. No bean bag is thrown at a player: every toss goes to a hoop, a mat or a pair of ready hands, and nobody is put out for good. Checked on 12 October 2026 at Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ followed by the name): Educational stage, for the ages of each United States grade; Four square, for the boxes, the serve and the line that Bean Bag Four Square keeps. Licence: own work

How it works

These PE games using bean bags are sorted by what the bean bag does. None is thrown at a player: every toss goes to a hoop, a mat or a pair of ready hands.

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How many bean bags the class needs

Eighteen of the games ask for one bean bag a player, or more. Bean Bag Four Square, Leapfrog Catch, Feet Only Circle, Fly-By, Flick It Into the Hoop and Draw It on the Floor share one among a pair or a group.

Questions and answers

What are kindergarten PE games with bean bags?

Build It Together, Pick It Up Without Hands, Where Is Your Bean Bag?, Draw It on the Floor, Hand to Hand Rainbow and Toe Touch Colors are written for ages 5 to 7. Nobody is out in any of them.

Which bean bag games suit grades 3 to 5?

Third to fifth graders are 8 to 11. Bean Bag Four Square, Leapfrog Catch, Capture the Hoops, Raft to Raft and Mat Stretcher are written from age 8, and Exactly Ten, Mat Golf, Fly-By and Pick Up a Second Hat from age 7.

What are middle school PE games with bean bags?

Feet Only Circle is written for ages 10 to 14. Bean Bag Four Square, Leapfrog Catch, Capture the Hoops, Mat Golf, Raft to Raft and Mat Stretcher also run to age 14.

Which PE games use a bean bag and a mat?

Three. In Mat Golf six mats are the greens. In Raft to Raft each half of a team catches with both feet on its own mat. In Mat Stretcher four players carry a loaded mat by its corners.

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