Preschool Activities on Throwing and Catching Balls

Circle Ball Pass

• Have your preschoolers stand in a circle and hand one child a soft ball. Tell the kids to pass the ball back and forth to one another. Tell them to count each time to see how many times they can throw it and catch it without it hitting the ground. You can also time the preschoolers to see how long they can pass the ball between one another without dropping it. Tell them to try to beat their time in each round.

Ball Hop Pass

• Tell your preschoolers to stand in single file. Place one ball for each preschooler on the ground in a line about 3 feet apart. The first player in line must hop over each ball. Once he jumps over the last ball, he must pick it up and toss it to the first child in line. That player will put the ball down and hop over the balls remaining on the ground. After he hops over the last ball, he must pass it to the first player in line. Each player will hop over all the balls and pass the last ball to the next player in line. The last player will hop over the last ball and toss it to the player who went first.

Beach Ball Toss

• Tell your preschoolers to scatter out around the play area. Take a beach ball and toss it to one of the players. She must try to catch the beach ball and toss it back to you. If she misses the ball, she is out of the game. Keep tossing the ball to each child. The last child standing wins the game.

Ball Relay Race

• Divide your preschoolers into two teams and have them stand in single file lines about 3 feet apart. Give the first player in each team a soft ball. When you say "Go," the first player in line will toss the ball to the next player in line. He must catch the ball and toss it to the next player in line. Once the last child catches the ball, he must pass the ball back to the first player in line. The first team to get the ball back to the first player in line wins the race.