Time
5-10 minutes
Equipment
Ball
Benefits
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Body Awareness
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Coordination
Ages
3+
Body Bowling
About the Game
How? Play catch without your hands to explore all the different parts of the body.
Why? Young children are just getting to know their body. Moving in unusual ways is really fun and shows them what they can do!
What You Can Do. As you play, call out the body parts they are using. Keep this game silly and fun. It’s actually trickier than it looks. Body Bowling challenges them to think differently about their body while reacting to a moving object which requires good timing and coordination. If they show signs of frustration, try a different body part or go back to using their hands. Don’t push it. They’ll get there in their own time.
How to Play
Set Up. Sit on the floor facing each other. Roll the ball to them a few times and have them roll it back to you. This will give them a sense of their timing.
Game Play. Choose a body part for them to use to stop the ball. For instance, their elbow. Point to your elbow to show them what they need to do.
Now play again only this time they have to stop the ball with their elbow. Once they get the hang of it, now have them roll the ball back to you using just their elbow.
When they get the hang of "elbow ball" try other parts of the body.
For More Challenge
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Ask them to choose the body part.
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Roll the ball to the left or right of them so they have the scramble to stop it.
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Use a smaller ball.
And there's more...