Magic beans!

A bean bag- a prop or piece of apparatus?

Saturday morning task is refilling bean bags, because funnily enough, you can’t put a split-pea-filled bean bag in the washing machine.

7oz. That's not heavy. 💪 It is not that heavy until you start throwing it from hand to hand- the sound of snatching and grabbing- and then the quietness of the plop into the palm of the hand. Remember the game of 5 Stones? Add pronation and supination, and the bean bag lands on the back of the hand and then the palm.

Try a gentle up and over arc, moving the feet- add in a sideways step - challenging the posture, balance and hand-eye coordination. Walk around the room, passing it from hand to hand- and then change directions.

The eyes track its trajectory, and the body shifts to be in the right position to retrieve it, and when sitting, you can feel how the body shifts so that your hands are in the right place for the bean bag to land in the palm.

Working with a partner, you must ensure a good ‘aim’ and easy passing so it lands in their hands and does not fly overhead.

The feet are moving so the weight is shifting from foot to foot like a goalkeeper ready to move into position to save the goal.

Now add music- let it fly and land in time to the music- feel the impetus and flight- anticipate and move.

The skill of using the properties of apparatus - weight, texture, sound and shape - for outcomes and not as a prop.