Beanbags – Not Just for Play Rooms!

August 9, 2015 Guest Post

For too long have beanbag chairs been relegated to the status of a quirky purchase for the stylistically impaired or limited to those wishing to replicate the casual ambiance of the 1970s “flower power” era. Rarely is the therapeutic value of the bean bag considered, nor is its potential for enhancing child development.

Unstructured beanbag chairs, for example, are excellent for developing a child’s gross motor skills as he tumbles and flops all over it, struggles to get out of it, or even just wiggles himself around to get it “just right”. Children learn from sensory experience and a beanbag chair covered in a fabric that has a pleasing texture and colour scheme AND forms any shape he wants will keep him amused for hours.

If there’s one thing kids are famous for, it’s moods. How many times has a mother felt her heart jump into her throat when her child decides to fling herself backward onto the floor in a rage? One of a parent’s duties is to teach a child appropriate ways to express stress, anger, and frustration. Banging the head off the floor or hard-edged furniture is not entirely appropriate – however a quality beanbag can take all the punishment a furious child can mete out and then cuddle the exhausted tot for a soothing nap.

Children love to exercise control over their environment and express their own individuality, but no parent appreciates coming into the living room to find the couch shoved halfway through the doorway and their “helpful” four year trapped underneath the coffee table! Beanbag furniture allows children to reinvent their surroundings because they are easily pushed, shoved, kicked, rolled, carried, flopped, and skidded anywhere the child wants to put them – even if it’s under the bed or the dining table. Beanbag furniture is easily brought outside and instantly usable on even the most unstable of surfaces, since they have no legs to stab down into the earth and send the occupants toppling over.

No one can deny that the site of a tiny tot teetering along on her first steps is simultaneously a heart-warming and a heart-stopping sight, especially when she gets close to the wooden dining chair or metal coffee table! Beanbag furniture takes the worry out of her first steps – solid enough to give her something to grip, they’re soft enough for her to be safe on those times she falls face-down.

Since young toddlers should never be justify unsupervised, what better excuse for mom or dad to sit on the beanbag cushion with baby and enjoy a rousing game of “The Grand Old Duke of York” or “Twenty White Horses”? The adult is down at the child’s level without having to suffer the discomfort of sitting directly on the floor and then having to get back up afterward. There is any number of developmentally valuable games that can be played using a beanbag: Hide-and-Seek, King of the Mountain, Peek-a-Boo, to name just a few.

While the safety is excellent, since there are no corners and crevices in which little limbs could get trapped, perhaps the best feature is the ability to clean beanbag chairs without having to call in the professionals and then wait two days for the upholstery to dry. So go ahead, child, dribble and drool all over it – a quick swipe with a cloth and it’s good to go!

This post was brought to you by UK-based beanbag designer and manufacturer Rucomfy Beanbags, a leading beanbag manufacturer of beanbag furnishings including beanbags, pet beds and cushions, for nearly thirty years.