Our children seem to love any game which includes a ball …

We have two netball rings at slightly different heights  …

so the children have a better chance of getting the balls through the hoop.

We have a tennis ball on a sock to hit with racquets.

as well as the big swinging ball you may have seen in our pendulum post …

and the big punching ball for the children to push, hit or even kick to each other.

At this time of year …

there are soccer games …

and constant football, Aussie Rules footy that is, happening down on the grass.

We are trying very hard to get across the concept of kick to kick, but it is hard for four and five year old boys who are full of energy not to tackle.

They are doing their best though!

Then there’s always cricket.  There’s no tackling in the gentlemen’s sport of cricket!

When the children are coming inside after outdoor play, we like to line them up and use a variety of ball activities in order to assist their ball handling capabilities.

We either bounce the ball to them …

and they do the same back to us.

Roll the ball to…

and fro …

or throw and catch the ball.

We like our children to handle balls of all different shapes and sizes …

as well as throwing and catching beanbags …

to challenge them as much as we can.  We are finding that everyone’s skills are improving rapidly even those children whose natural inclination is shy away from a thrown object!

Ball sports have so many positives, being great for the children’s hand eye coordination, balance, language, turn taking, patience, team building, cooperation, muscle development, friendships etc, etc,  We especially love that now the children are that bit older, while sometimes disagreeing with the umpires decision, have come to accept it. Our friend Dante likes to remind the children …  ”My dad says don’t argue with the umpire … he’s the boss … and anyway that happens in footy!”   They really have come along way in six months of kinder!