Throw and catch the ball, bouncing balls, a ball suspension in a net, tossing the ball into a hula hoop, rolling the ball to hit down the bottles, balancing the ball on a bat, kicking a ball into a goal, playing handball, over and under throwing of balls, wall ball and tennis are some of the exciting ball games to improve your kids coordination.
Playing with balls and balloons may not just be reserved as a fun activity to engage your kid in. Your kid can also benefit from the simple ball throwing, kicking, rolling and catching activities. These are essential to improve your kid’s motor skills, hand to eye coordination and also timing. These are important for developmental progression of toddlers.
Balls are quite easily available and are affordable toys too. When you roll a ball towards your infant, he or she is fascinated by it and try to maneuver it as per what they want to. They love to bounce it, roll it, dribble it, kick it and throw it too. Eventually your kid would also engage in parallel play and collaborative play with the ball and this is important for developing social skills.
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11 Ball Games to Improve Coordination
Playing for kids is an essential tool to learn so many things of which one is improving hand to eye coordination. There are several exciting ball games that you can engage your child in. Here are eleven ball games listed which you can adopt as per your child’s age and interest:
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Throw and catch the ball
This is a classic ball game which you can engage your toddler in. It teaches them timing, hand to eye coordination and also motor skills. You will have to teach your kid to throw the ball when the other person is ready and not at everyone they see. Also teach them not to throw the balls at objects at the house. Educating all this to a toddler can be difficult as they would not understand, so it is you who should look after the safety.
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Bouncing balls
For this simple activity, you can use balloons too as they bounce well and do not necessarily cause any harm. There is a risk of using heavy balls for this activity as you kid can injure him or herself and others too. It is yet another great activity to improve your child’s coordination.
A ball suspension in a net
It is a fun activity that you can engage your child in and this would be ready in a few simple steps. You’ll have to suspend a ball in a net (you can use the net bag from oranges) and tie a knot. Then tie a piece of rope to this knot and suspend it such that the ball would reach the chest level of your child. Ask your child to push the ball with both the hands and watch carefully so as to catch it again with both the hands together, avoiding it from hitting the body. You can also ask your kid to use a bat to hit the ball.
Tossing the ball into a hula hoop
This game is kind of similar to basketball where your kid will have to toss the ball into the hoop from a distance, minus the dribbling. This fun activity improves your child’s distance judgement ability too.
Rolling the ball to hit down the bottles
This game is very similar to pins down game that teenagers and adults love to play. Just arrange few bottles similar to the pins fashion and ask your child to roll the ball along the ground from a distance, such that he or she will knock down the bottles.
Balancing the ball on a bat
Another simple yet fun game where you can encourage your child to keep bouncing and at the same time balancing a tennis ball or ping pong ball or even a shuttlecock on the bat or a racket for how much ever long they can. This can turn to be quite interesting when you count the number of times your child bounces the ball and tries to beat their score each time.
Kicking a ball into a goal
Set up a mini goal net or make your own goal area by marking the area and encourage your kid to kick the ball into it from a specific distance. Make this interesting and competitive by keeping a tab on the scores and asking them to beat their score each time.
Playing handball
It is quite similar to throwing and catching the ball but handball involves the use of only one hand. So this can get a little tricky for your kid but again it’s a fun way to improve your kids hand to eye coordination.
Over and under throwing of balls
Create a barrier of a specific height or go outdoors and ask your child to throw the ball from over the barrier or the fence, without the ball hitting it.
Wall ball
Playing wall ball is another great way to improve your child’s hand to eye coordination. Just take a ball of any size and ask them to stand in front of a wall. Then keep throwing the ball against it and catching it. You can make this more interesting by asking your kid to keep changing the distance between the wall and him or her each time.
Tennis
As your child grows above five years of age, you can engage your child in sports such as tennis. Tennis is excellent in enhancing motor skills, hand to eye coordination and timing. It is also a great activity to encourage your child to be sportive.
Conclusion
Playing is an excellent activity for your child to learn several essential lessons of which hand to eye coordination is another important aspect. Engaging your child in exciting and fun ball games can help improve your kid’s hand to eye coordination, timing and motor skills. Some of these ball games are – throwing and catching the ball, bouncing the ball, rolling the ball along the ground to knock down the bottles, tossing the ball in a hoop, ball suspension in a net, balancing the ball on a bat or racket, wall ball, over throwing the ball, kicking the ball in a goal, playing handball and tennis.
References
https://www.bellamysorganic.com.au/blog/how-to-improve-your-childs-hand-eye-coordination/https://clamberclub.com/4-activities-to-improve-eye-hand-coordination/https://www.verywellfamily.com/why-your-child-should-be-playing-with-balls-289705
