Ball play – Child
As your child grows older, their ball play with you and others will change and grow with them. They will love your support in adapting to new challenges that ball play provides.
Did you know?
Learning to throw and catch a ball is a fun way to develop eye-hand coordination.
Start with a medium sized ball and stand fairly close to your child. Help your child have their hands ready to catch the ball. At first they will need to catch the ball between their hands and their body. As they practice you can slowly increase the distance between you and use smaller balls.
Other development
A few children will continue to struggle with learning movements such as throwing, catching, running and trike riding. An assessment for Developmental Coordination Disorder may be beneficial in these instances. See your Doctor or Child Health Nurse or follow these links for more information.
Variations
Starting simple scoring or counting during ball games adds a fun way to introduce early math concepts.
Hanging a ball from a branch and using a racket or large bat to hit with can be a fun way to introduce this more advanced ball skill.
Safety
Teaching your child to choose safe play areas away from roads and to never chase their ball onto the roads are important parts of learning ball skills.
Across the ages
All the activities listed on our “Play Ideas” page can be applied across different age groups. See how ball play can be fun for babies, toddlers and playgroups.
Activities listed under “child” are suitable for children 3 years and older. Children of this age enjoy more complex activities where they can develop their skills and use their imagination while playing with friends.