Bean bags are fun!

Unsure what to bring as a present to a one year old's b'day party, when not buying anything new, I decided on a bag of mini bean bags. I was able to make the bean bags from scraps of fabric so didn't have to buy anything except for the lentils to fill them with. Which is the other benefit aside from fun - if there is ever a food shortage (ahem, peak oil), the bean bags are full of food!

Hubby and I had fun testing them to make sure they were securely sewn and wouldn't leak lentils at the hands of a one year old.

Our very scientific test involved throwing them at each other as fast as we could to see how many each of us could catch. I think I caught more but to be fair, hubby is way more accurate with fast throwing. Instead of throwing the bean bags at hubby I seemed to throw them all over the room - over his head, way too far to the left and the right. And a couple of times, right at his head! :-o

Luckily the bags passed our tests so made it to the b'day party in a little drawstring bag I made out of one of the larger fabric scraps.

To make bean bags for little ones, all you need are:

2 squares of fabric 4"x4". Put right sides together and sew a 1/2" seam almost all the way around leaving a 1.5"-2" gap on one side. Sew an additional seam on the outside of the first seam leaving the same gap (this seam is to ensure the beans stay in the bag). Turn the bean bag right side out. Fill 3/4 full with lentils. Hand sew the gap.

Keep going until you have enough for a good pile for squishing, grabbing and throwing.