
Discovery Play Activities with Your Young Child: Bouncing Balls
Description
Infants love playing with balls. Ball play is not just a motor learning activity, but a STEM learning opportunity. During ball play, help your child learn about the properties of balls with a variety of textures and sizes and discover how different textured balls can move in different ways (roll, throw, bounce, drop).
Environment
- If possible, limit background noise & distractions
- Place balls within reach
- Cover items that you will not use during the activity
- Make sure your child has a comfortable place to sit or stand while engaging in the ball activity
- If you are planning to roll balls, lay out “paths” made of tape or another material for the balls to follow.
Materials
- Have child’s assistive technology ready and available, including augmentative & alternative communication (AAC) device
- Have a container or tray your child can toss balls into
- Provide a variety of balls with different textures (rough, smooth, bumpy, knobby, hard, soft), sizes (big, small), and colors
- For children with physical disabilities with fine motor/grasping needs, consider using tools/assistive devices (e.g., grabber, reacher)
Instruction
- Use a variety of methods of communication (e.g., sign language, gestures) to meaningfully engage children
- Model and demonstrate how to interact with balls. Try doing one actions at a time with one ball, then build one or two more actions into the activity
- Use hand-over-hand or hand-under-hand to support interacting (e.g., roll, throw, bounce, drop) with balls
- Have visuals ready to represent different actions your child might do with the ball
- Allow longer waiting time for child to respond and/or process this activity