All Types of Catching

All Types of Catching
Age:
3-5 years, 5-8 years
Participants:
1+
Time:
10 Minutes
Setting:
Home, School, ECEC
Balls (various - large and bouncy, small, soft foam), Beanbags (as many as required)

Skills
Set Up:
- Spread the markers out in your designated area
- Have different balls and beanbags ready in separate buckets/bags
Description:
Each player starts on a marker with a bouncy ball each. They see how many bounce and catches they can do in a row.
- Sitting down each child gets a beanbag and sees how many times they can throw in air and catch it.
- Standing each child gets a scarf beanbag and sees how many times they can catch it.
- Standing each child gets a normal beanbag and tries to catch it after dropping it off their head.
- Standing each child gets a soft foam ball and tries to throw it up and catch it.
- Standing each child moves ball around their waist 5 times, around their head 5 times and a figure of eight through their legs 5 times
Ask children questions:
- What object is easier to catch?
- What is the hardest?
- Which parts of your body do you catch with?
- Where do you look when you are catching?
Variations:
- Depending on the skill level of your group start very easy by rolling ball in partners between each other, this encourages tracking of the ball
- Change shapes and sizes of ball
- Add more difficult challenges – throw in air, turn around and catch ball, throw in air clap hands and catch ball
- Can turn it into a game by playing ‘Simon Says’
Teaching Points:
- Watch the ball
- Soft fingers, big hands
- Thumbs together and up (butterfly hands) for balls above waist and fingers pointing down (wriggly worms) for balls below waist
- Reach out for the ball and catch with two hands