Gross motor development
Toddlers participate in open-ended play with different types of balls.
Invite 3–4 toddlers to an open space to play with balls. Support opportunities for toddlers to practice existing skills and try out emerging skills. Give individual attention to toddlers’ actions. Use your voice to create interest and enthusiasm.
Some toddlers will be delighted to simply carry a ball. Provide a designated area for toddlers who wish to throw a ball. Mark spots for throwing with tape or rubber floor markers. Encourage toddlers to use different balls and to bend over to pick up balls from the floor. Describe the range of toddlers’ uses of a ball, including holding and throwing.
After about 10 minutes of lively play, organize a calming-down gathering by encouraging toddlers to put the balls in a container and to sit on the floor with you.
Toddlers benefit from unstructured physical play as well as play guided by a caregiver. This activity provides opportunities for toddlers to practice their current ball manipulation skills and maybe try new ones. This activity may last about 10 minutes. End the activity if you observe toddlers who seem overstimulated, tired, or beginning to stumble. Remember, at this age, toddlers are not expected to catch a ball.
Extra support
Enrichment
Gross motor development
A toddler practices throwing a small ball to knock over empty milk jugs.
Be Prepared: This activity is for a toddler who can easily stand and walk. Set up a row of milk jugs in an open area and place the ball on the floor. You may wish to add interest to the milk jugs by covering them with colored tape. An alternative material is a commercially available bowling set designed for young toddlers.
Invite one toddler to stand in front of the jugs and throw a ball toward the jugs. Suggest an approach to throwing that is appropriate to your understanding of the toddler’s throwing skill and experience. Provide a demonstration if the toddler seems uncertain about what to do. Emphasize using one hand, looking at the jugs, and pushing the ball forward. Offer enthusiastic verbal support for the toddler’s attempt and encourage the toddler to try throwing the ball again. Describe the toddler’s actions. Reset the jugs if they tip over. Conclude the activity with a brief description of what happened.
The current activity adds challenge to the Block 10, Option 1 throwing activity by using a smaller ball that enables use of one hand. The Block 10 activity used a larger ball and promoted use of two hands. Note the Extra Support tips related to use of both hands and/or a larger ball if use of one hand is too challenging. It is important for the toddler to experience success in the activity.
Toddlers will differ in their throwing experiences and interest. Encouraging the toddler to throw the ball in a way he/she wishes is appropriate. An overhand throw may be of interest to a toddler who has experience throwing a larger ball with two hands. A toddler may wish to try several different ways to move the ball (underarm, overhand, roll). Each way provides practice in eye-hand coordination. The activity is not intended to teach a particular way to throw. Avoid telling a toddler which arm to use.
Extra support
Enrichment
Gross motor development
Toddlers practice overhand throwing by tossing soft balls into pretend water.
Be Prepared: Gather 12–20 sock balls or other soft, cloth balls suitable for indoor throwing. A sock ball can be made by rolling adult tube socks into balls (one sock per ball). Place all balls in the basket or other type of container. Spread two yards of blue fabric on the floor to serve as pretend water. An area rug may be used instead of the fabric.
[Invite several toddlers to play a game throwing balls into pretend water.]
[Point to the fabric.]
We will pretend this is water. We can throw some balls into the pretend water.
[Point to a spot for each child to stand, approximately two feet from the fabric. Example: “This is a good place for you to stand, Lilly.” Then demonstrate an overhand throw with a ball.]
Please look at how I am holding a ball. I am putting the ball close to my ear. Then I throw the ball with my arm.
[Give one ball to each toddler.]
Now we are ready to throw a ball into our pretend water! Put the ball near your ear and use your arm to throw into the water.
[Having one toddler throw at a time enables you to offer specific verbal support of throwing.
Kneel at eye level to the toddlers as much as you can to enhance your communication. Describe each toddler’s actions. Example: “Alright Zach, you made the sock ball go high. It went right into the water!
Announce the sequence in a fun way! Example: “Lilly, you are holding the sock ball close to your ear. You see the water. And ‘whoosh’! You use your arm to throw the ball right to the water.]
Are you ready to throw another ball?
[Give each interested toddler another ball to throw. Depending on the space arrangement and number of toddlers, you may wish to encourage toddlers to throw at the same time for this second and additional rounds. Continue the throwing practice until all balls are on the fabric.
Let toddlers know when the activity is nearly over. Example: “We are almost finished. Each of us can throw two more balls. Then we will be all done throwing for now.”
Encourage toddlers to help collect the balls, place them in the basket, and have some calming‑down time before moving to another area.]
We threw balls into pretend water. We put a sock ball close to our ear and looked at our pretend water. Then we threw the ball. We are learning about throwing. We had fun!
There may be notable differences in toddlers’ motor skills for throwing. The activity emphasizes overhand throwing, but toddlers may prefer to roll a ball into the pretend water or use an underarm throw.
Watching someone else throw a ball is helpful in learning to throw. In addition to your demonstration, having toddlers throw one at a time (with your description of actions) in the activity’s first round of throwing can be beneficial. Your descriptions of the throwing sequence can strengthen the child’s awareness of the separate steps and their order. Motor planning is the technical term for thinking about and carrying out a motor skill in a sequence.
Hand and arm preference is not well established at this age. You may see a toddler throw with left and right hand on the same day. Suggesting one hand or another is not recommended.
Throwing balls is typically an exciting activity for toddlers and you may experience louder voices, laughing, and maybe shouting. It is appropriate for toddlers to express their excitement in these ways, assuming the actions do not become overstimulating and a calming-down period is offered at the end of the activity. Self-regulation activities in the ELM curriculum offer guidance on how to help young children calm down.
Extra support
Enrichment
Materials Needed: Row, Row, Row Your Boat by Child’s Play, Clap Your Hands by Lorinda Bryan Cauley, I Can, Can You? by Marjorie W. Pitzer, All Fall Down by Mary Bridget Barrett, Shake My Sillies Out by Raffi, large empty tub, soft balls, cloth fish, empty sensory table, large (7”) ball
Place a large empty tub in the room as a target for throwing. Provide lots of soft balls for indoor throwing. On another day, provide cloth fish for toddlers to throw into an empty sensory table (little pool). Sit on the floor with toddlers at play time and engage in back-and-forth ball rolling with the large ball.
Display and share board books with pictures of children and animals moving in different ways. Emphasize movement words. Point to pictures portraying movements. Also share the paperback book, Shake My Sillies Out by Raffi. Toddlers will enjoy the illustrations and words.
Materials Needed: ball, milk jugs, sock ball, laundry basket, hula-hoop, cushion, Pete the Cat: Play Ball! by James Dean
Infants will enjoy a simple game of passing a ball back and forth to you. Mobile infants may roll a ball to you. Preschool-age and older children may enjoy having several targets for throwing soft balls; such as a laundry basket, a hula-hoop, and/or a cushion. An older child may enjoy reading aloud Pete the Cat: Play Ball! by James Dean. Children of all ages will enjoy the pictures and the story of this popular cat.
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