Let's Bounce

Skill: Throw
Time Required: 15
Activity Type: Physical
Group Size: Large Group, Medium Group, Small Group
Age Group: 6 - 9yrs, 9 - 12yrs, 13+ yrs
Play area: Gymnasium (large indoor space)
Safety Considerations: Ensure groups are spread out from one another.
Remove any safety hazards and obstacles from the activity area.
Remind participants to be aware of their surroundings and to keep their head up.
Equipment: Tennis balls/basketballs
Hoops
Pylons
Objective:
Participants try to get their ball to bounce in the hoop after a set amount of bounces.
Other Skills:
Coordination
Set up:
Divide participants into groups of 3-5 participants.
Each group will get a hoop and a pylon.
Each participant will get a ball (or at least one ball per group).
Groups will find their own space in the activity area.
Step by Step:
1. Groups will put their hoop down somewhere in the activity space and away from the other groups.
2. Each group will decide who will bounce first (or the leader could say the oldest, the tallest, the shortest, the participant with the most letters in their full name, and so on will start and go in that order).
3. The participant that is starting will take the pylon and choose where they want to bounce from, and place the pylon down there.
4. They will stand next to the pylon.
5. The goal for participants is to bounce their tennis ball into the hoop after it has bounced a set amount of times.
6. The first participant will bounce their ball towards the hoop and if it lands in the hoop on the third bounce, then it is a three bounce goal.
7. The rest of the participants have to stand next to the pylon, and one at a time, try to get their ball to bounce in the hoop on it's third bounce.
8. Optional to make it that the first participant has to say how many bounces their bounce goal is going to be, and they have to succeed, if not, they lose their turn and the next participant goes first.
9. If a participant does not get the ball to land in the hoop on the correct bounce, or if it doesn't bounce in the hoop, then they get a letter.
10. It is up to the leader to decide on the word participants will spell, examples are: bounce, goal, hop, fly, leaf and so on.
11. Each round a new participant will go first and they will choose where the pylon will go.
12. When a participant spells the designated word, they are out for the remainder of the game.
13. The last participant standing in each group will be the winner.
14. The next round could be all participants that won in their group will be one group, all participants that came in second will be one group and so on.
Variations:
Use a basketball or volleyball instead of a tennis ball.
Participants could also use their non-dominant hand, close their eyes, or choose another way to bounce their tennis ball towards the hoop. The first participant has to say the bounce goal before they go, and if they get it to bounce in the hoop on the right bounce, then the other participants will have to copy them exactly when bouncing.
Sources: Developed for the Leisure Information Network.