Do you have a child in your program who loves to throw things?

• Hard ball/soft ball – provide balls made of different materials for throwing. Discuss what they are made of, how they feel and if they are hard or soft to the touch.
• Heavy ball/light ball – provide different weights of balls or throwing items. They can hold each one and tell you which one feels is heavier. They could weigh the balls on a scale. 
• Which one will go further? Provide different types of throwing materials and have the children guess which one will roll or throw further. You can also try: 
  • Making a chart
  • Including a ruler and/or measuring tape
  • Measure things in footsteps 
  • measuring with tape on the floor
• How high can we throw in the air? Try throwing underhand and then overhand. Which one is higher?
• Make a list with the children of things you can throw and things that would not be safe to throw and why.
• Have ramps for rolling and throwing things down and/or up.

• Have tunnels and tubes to throw items through.
• Rolling items that are round, rolling items that are square or triangle.
• What does the inside of a ball look like?

• Provide different uniforms from sports teams that “throw” such as basketball, cricket, football etc.
• Provide sporting equipment for dress up such as helmets, pads, gloves and shoes.
• Set up a sporting goods store.
• Set up your own olympics and paralympics – this could be done for dramatic play or in your entire room. You can add
  • Flags
  • Uniforms
  • Pictures of different sports
  • Maps of where the countries are that are competing.
  • Introduce different sporting events that might be new to them which is also language development.
  • Have a speaker come in to show the children different moves in a sport.
• Set up a sporting event! You can include cash registers, money from different countries, and items to make tickets. 
• Add referee uniforms, whistles, and cards to your dress-up area.

• Provide coloured balls and matching coloured targets or baskets.
• Ring toss with letters, they could spell their name or say the letter.
• Different shapes on the floors with tape and the children bounce or throw the balls into them.
• Different size balls and different size openings to throw into. 
• Bean bag colour, number or letter matching throw game.
• Targets on the wall with letters, numbers, shapes, words etc.
• Throw with your left or your right hand. You can make a chart or take pictures to show which hand the children find it easier to throw with. 
• Matching balls where you have two pictures or actual balls and they have to find the matching pair. 
• Match the ball or throwing item to the sport or activity.

• What are some sports or throwing games that parents/families play in their home country? Introduce some of these games or sports with pictures, playing them, providing equipment and having the parents share their knowledge. Examples include: Kongki Noli (Korea), Pitthu Garam (Seven Stones – Pakistan) 
• Consider including different materials used for throwing and things that can be thrown into from around the world.
• Provide pictures, books and speakers that represent both genders in sports and activities, such as women in rugby or football. 
• Provide pictures and books that represent all abilities playing sports and in activities, such as wheelchair hockey or a player with prosthetic legs. 
• Discuss with the children that some people may not be able to use their arms so how could you throw a ball?

• Invite the families for a game. You can do this in the classroom, gym or even outside.
• Have the adult class and CNC wear their favorite jersey or share their favorite sport or activities/games.
• Make cards or tip sheets for families to take home – include some throwing game ideas  and information for parents  about why throwing is an important skill for children’s developing body and brain.
• Provide throwing materials for at-home games/activities.

• Have pictures of places in their community where families can go to throw things, such as basketball courts, baseball fields, community centers, parks etc.
• Consider a field trip with the adult class to these community places.
• Have speakers come in and teach movements or activities to the children.
• Create a community book for the classroom where children draw or you take pictures of all the places I can throw a ball.
• What do other communities look like? Do all communities have basketball courts?

• Parachute throwing –  you can put an object on to the parachute to throw into the air.
  • You can also do this in pairs with towels.

• Throw something into the air and catch it yourself. 
• Throw something in the air and catch it with:
  • A bucket
  • A hat
  • Your shirt
  • Left hand
  • Right hand
  • Your elbow
  • With a spoon
  • With a glove
• Throw something in the air and
  • Stomp your feet while you catch it
  • Turn around and catch it
  • Do a jumping jack and catch it
  • Catch it laying down
  • Catch a partners 
  • Clap your hands and catch it
• Touch your toes and then catch it
• Throw to music 
• Playing catch with a partner also incorporates social and emotional skills!
• Freeze throwing game
• Hot potato
• Bowling
• Throwing cotton balls or pom poms at mactac or sticky tape on the wall. 

• Throwing pom poms into their air and catching them.
• Use a spoons to scoop and throw pom poms into containers
• Create puzzles of all different types of balls
• Straw javelin throwing
• Roll the dough into balls and bake the dough. Have the children paint the balls or marbles. 
• Use tongs to pick up the ball and throw it
• Use clothespins to pick up the cotton balls and throw them in bucket

• Throwing is part of many games that develop social skills such as turn taking, negotiation, and working as a team 
• When a child gets upset and throws something, it is an opportunity to encourage a healthy expression of emotions. Consider whether there might be something they could safely throw without hurting anyone or breaking anything. 
• Children can work together to develop their own throwing games
• Talk to the children about how they feel when they throw different items
• Discuss the safety of how and what we throw  

• Make your own bean bags
• Paint different materials of balls
• Create a target mural where the children paint or colour a large piece of mural paper. Hang it up and let the children throw things at it.
• Make paper airplanes for throwing
• Paint boxes for throwing items into
• Create your own flags for your teams
• Have creative drawing material available in all areas of the room so children can draw their ideas for throwing things
• Make tape or sticky mactac balls
• Use recycled paper for creating paper balls or “snowballs” to throw
• Make a catapult for pom poms or soft balls and try to hit a target.
• Drop slat painting. Have a large roll of paper and let the children soak cotton balls in paint and drop them onto the paper.

• Introduce throwing related words in different language such as
  • High
  • Low
  • Hard
  • Soft
  • In
  • Out
  • Roll
  • Throw  
  • Bounce
  • Under
  • Over
  • Through
• Post these different words in areas around the room. 
• Ask parents to share some of these words in their home language so that you can use them during the children’s play. 
• Create a game of your own with the children. Allow the children to create the rules, where they play it and what they wear. This encourages discussion and enhances language. Use a board to write down these ideas and add pictures if needed.
• Provide books about throwing, rolling, bouncing or sports in different play areas. 
• Add movement songs or fingerplays

Different materials children can throw

• Have a designated “throwing” area set up in your room. This will give children the opportunity to practice this skill and not disturb other children and play areas.
• Consider the size of the throwing items and consider choking hazards. 
• Have throwing materials available during free play.
• Throwing does not have to be just for the gym or outside.
• Having different size balls or throwing items allow for practice of varying abilities.

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