Wordy Wall Ball

Skill: Catch, Run, Throw
Time Required: 20
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), Outdoor - Field
Safety Considerations: Remove any safety hazards and obstacles from the play area.
Remind participants to be aware of their surroundings and to keep their head up.
Ensure the participants get out of the way for the participant who has to catch the ball.
Equipment: Wall in the gym or outdoors.
Tennis balls with letters written on them.
Cones to outline boundaries.
Hoops.
Objective:
For participants and/or teams to get all the tennis balls required to spell a word.
Other Skills:
Coordination
Speed
Set up:
Divide participants into groups of 2-3.
3-4 groups will be in the same area and playing against each other.
Set up cones against the wall around 10 feet apart and create two parallel lines going outwards. Those will be the side boundaries; optional to have an out of bounds area at the back.
Place 1 hoop for each group outside the lines.
Have a bucket filled with tennis balls that have letters written on them.
Step by Step:
1. One participant from each team will start inside the boundaries created by the wall and cones. The rest of the participant will stand by their team's hoop.
2. Without looking in, one participant will pick a tennis ball from the bucket (bag, bin, basket etc...)
3. They will say what letter is written on the tennis ball.
4. The goal for each team is to spell a word with the tennis balls they get. How do they get a tennis ball? Here's how:
5. Teams will number off from one to three (if there are three teams).
6. The participant on team one will start with the tennis ball for the first round.
7. They have to throw the ball towards the wall, and so it bounces on the ground before hitting the wall.
8. After it hits the wall, the participant from team two has to catch it after the first bounce. They cannot catch it before the first bounce, or after two bounces.
9. If they do catch it after one bounce, then they will throw it against the wall, but so it bounces first, within 3 seconds of catching it.
10. The participant from team three will now catch it after the first bounce.
11. If a participant catches it before the first bounce, after the second bounce, fumbles the catch, does not throw it to the wall quick enough, hits the wall without the ball bouncing first, or throws the ball out of bounds, then they are out for the round.
12. The remaining teams will continue to play until one participant does one of the errors listed in the previous step.
13. The last participant remaining, wins the ball for their team.
14. They will put the ball in their hoop.
15. The next participant from each team will go into the play area, select a new ball, and continue to play the same way.
16. When a team can spell a word with the balls they collected, they say "Spell!", and show the word with the tennis balls.
17. That team will get a point.
18. The rest of the teams can keep their balls, and the team that spelt the word has to put the letters they used in their word back in the bucket (they can keep any tennis balls they didn't use in their hoop).
10. Continue playing until one team gets 5 points (or so).
Variations:
Have a bag that has letters written on pieces of paper placed inside. A participant will select a letter from the bag. They will then play with a tennis ball (that does not have a letter written on it), but it represents the letter that was drawn from the bag. Teams can have a piece of paper to write down the letters they have.
Change the rules to best accommodate the skill level of the participants. The ball doesn't have to hit the ground before hitting the wall, participants have to catch the ball before it hits the ground, don't have boundaries and so on.
Have a specific word teams are trying to spell, and ensure that all the tennis balls (or paper with letters written on them) have one of the letters required to spell that word.
Sources: Developed for the Leisure Information Network.