Movement skills/concepts

Catching a variety of objects, catching while moving in different pathways and at different levels and speeds

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Set-up

A variety of balls (small, large, soft, hard, spiky) and objects (beanbags, quoits). Children, with a ball/object each, are spread out in a defined hard flat area.

Activity

• describe how the ball/object feels – think of the texture/hardness
• roll the ball/object over your body – up and down, round and round, down a leg or arm
• roll it along the ground slowly, run round in front of it and pick it up
• holding the ball/object in a two-hand ‘nest’, drop it and catch it while standing/ kneeling/walking along
• drop the ball/object from one hand and catch it in the two-hand ‘nest’
• throw the ball/object up, a little higher each time, and catch it – how high can you go?
• throw the ball/object up with one hand and catch it in the two-hand ‘nest’
• bounce or throw the ball/object and clap your hands then catch it
• see which ways you can catch as you move around (e.g. one hand and then the other)
• relaxed fingers forming a ‘nest’ about the size of the ball/object
• eyes on the ball/object
• reaching for the ball/object