Key Objectives
What shape do you make with your hands when catching a large ball? (large bowl)
Where are your eyes looking when catching a ball? (at the ball)
What shape do you make with your hands when catching a large ball? (large bowl)
Where are your eyes looking when catching a ball? (at the ball)
Create and clearly outline an area of play for the activity. Select 2 people to be the "Storks" and those two people run around trying to tag everyone else with one of the tagging items. Everyone else is labelled a "Frog" and each frog is given a "Fly (small ball, big ball, beanbag)" that they must carry around with them. When a frog is tagged, they must freeze and place their fly either on their head or between their legs. For a frog to be saved, another frog must come up to them, pass them their fly and then receive a pass back. If the fly is successfully passed and caught back and forth then the frog is free, however if the fly is dropped then the frog must stay stuck and wait for a different frog to come along and try to save them.
Make the area bigger or smaller to change difficulty. Add more or less catches in to change difficulty. Change up which equipment is used as the flies to change difficulty. Add more or less "Storks" to make is harder for the frogs.
Children must pair up with one ball between each pair and stand opposite their partner roughly 3 metres apart. The aim is for them to complete 10 passes and catches of whatever type of throw the coach asks.
Examples; underarm, overhead, right/left hand, sitting down, kneeling, lying down, backward etc.
Progressions:
- Increase distance between the two people to make it harder.
- Change the item being thrown to change the difficulty - eg. dodgeballs, tennis balls.
- Introduce someone in the middle to act as a intercepter/defender - like piggy in the middle. Middle person must stay inside a hoop but can jump up to intercept the ball. After ball is caught, the person who last touched it becomes the middle person.
Set up an area with a dividing line splitting the area into two. The line can be on the ground or up in the air like a tennis/volleyball net. The class is split into two teams with one team on one side being the "catchers" and the other on the other side being the "throwers". The throwers start with all the items on their side and must throw the items over the division line for the catchers to catch. If an item is caught then it is carried over and placed in a hoop on the side. If an item is dropped then it is thrown back to be tried again. The game finishes when all items are in the hoop.
Change the height of the division line to change difficulty. Adjust the size of the area of play to change difficulty. Change the type of item used for throwing to make the game easier or harder. Create more teams of less people.