Ball Skills - Throw and Catch the Ball

April 05, 2021

Ball Skills - Throw and Catch the Ball

Have you ever watched a toddler trying to toss a ball and catch it ?

Its always a struggle in the beginning until one day your child will be a pro and you will see all smiles and happiness on that cute little face. That would be an achievement to another milestone.

Once your toddler grows into a preschooler , you will see your child reflexes improve.

Throwing and catching the ball may sound too simple and easy, but , its not the same for your little ones.

Why is playing with ball good for Preschoolers ?

Playing with ball is a good gross motor skill and has a lot of physical strength involved.

Rolling, Throwing, Catching and Kicking the ball -

Improves good hand eye coordination

Increases fitness

Good gross motor skill while using hand and leg muscles.

Builds Confidence as the child's learns different skills and techniques and advances drastically.

Builds social skills while playing .

Here's how your child can play and develop Ball skills -

As a baby, your child will probably roll the soft ball around just by pushing it away.

Then, you can start by throwing and catching the big soft ball at close distance. Gradually, increase the distance .

You can also try out different ball games like throwing the ball into a bucket or laundry basket

Kicking a ball requires balance on one foot. I remember when Jordy was 2 and I showed him how to kick, he lifted his one foot and then lost balance and fell 😀😀

However, I encouraged him by saying , " Good Job , Its ok " " Lets try again "

And I asked him to take my support while kicking the ball and it worked.

We did a physical strengthening throw ball activity the whole week.

Little J started by throwing the ball in laundry basket which seemed really easy for him until I blocked his way with his bicycle, which really helped us in maintaining distance, while throwing the ball. We slowly increased the pace.

We all know how difficult it is to get any kind of physical training for kids during lockdown. This game will surely help your kid in physical strengthening and develop ball skills . We made a small basket ball court 😂😂😂 with the laundry basket and a lace tied to the wardrobe.

Little J was super excited while throwing the ball in the basket.

We started with a little warm up by giving some free play, then again we used the concept of distance and kept on increasing the pace which made the activity more challenging. There were times, when, Jordy tried and tried and couldn't make a goal ,which is completely ok. And every time he did succeed , we would scream loud , " GOAL." In the end, while Jordy was completely drained , it was free play time again.