Fun Games to Play With Beanie Babies

Find the Beanie Baby

• "Find the Beanie Baby" uses five Beanie Babies. Hide them around your home, then create clues to help your children find them. Simple clues (such as ̶0;find this Beanie Baby by something you sit on̶1;) are best for young children. Challenge older children with rhyming clues and riddles.

Zoo

• Pick out a five or more Beanie Babies representing zoo animals. Make cages out of shoe boxes and place Beanie Babies in cages. Write a few facts about each animal on an index card and attach it to the cage. Invite your child̵7;s friends to visit his Beanie Baby zoo. Your child plays ̶0;zookeeper̶1; by giving a tour of his zoo and talking about the animals in it.

Bear and Cub Game

• To play the "Bear and Cub Game" you need four or more children, a Beanie Baby bear and a chair. Select one child to be "mother bear." She sits on a chair with her back to the other children, who are about 15 feet away from her. Put the Beanie Baby bear under her chair. The other children sneak up to the chair and try to steal her cub. If she hears them, she growls, turns around and tries to catch the child trying to steal her cub. The child who is caught becomes the next mother bear.

Puppets

• Ask your children to use Beanie Babies as puppets and act out their favorite stories. Older children may like the challenge of transforming their Beanie Babies into marionette puppets. See Resources for articles on making stuffed animal marionettes.

Beanie Baby on the Rock

• "Beanie Baby on the Rock" uses any Beanie Baby, a pail and medium-weight sponges in different colors for each child. Prop a Beanie Baby on a pail; place the pail approximately 10 feet away from the children. Each child takes a turn throwing a sponge and trying to knock the Beanie Baby off the pail. When it falls, all players run and grab their sponges. The first child to pick up her sponge and return to the throw line earns a point. The game continues until one child becomes the winner by earning 10 points.

Who has the Beanie Baby?

• One child, the guesser, sits on a chair at the front of the room with the Beanie Baby under her chair. The guesser turns around so her back is facing the other children and covers her eyes. Another child, the hider, takes the Beanie Baby from under the chair, returns to her seat and places it behind her back. The other children also place their hands behind their backs and begin chanting ̶0;Who has your Beanie Baby?̶1; The guesser turns around and asks four ̶0;yes̶1; or ̶0;no̶1; questions to help her find the Beanie Baby, such as ̶0;Is the person wearing red?̶1; or ̶0;Does the person have brown hair?̶1; The child must then guess who has the Beanie Baby. If she picks the correct person, she continues to be the guesser. If she selects the wrong person, the person hiding the Beanie Baby becomes the guesser. Continue playing until all children have had a chance to be the guesser.