Baseball High Fives

Skill: Catch, Run, Strike, Throw
Time Required: 20
Activity Type: Physical
Group Size: Large Group, Medium 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 cones for the batting team are far enough away from the batter.
Ensure the back catcher is standing a safe distance behind the batter.
Equipment: 1 baseball bat (depending on the age and skill level of the participants, use a plastic or soft baseball bat)
1 tennis ball (or could use a foam ball, baseball, beach ball etc...)
A cone or hoop for the "pitcher's mound"
A base or another object representing home plate
2 cones for the batting team
Optional: t-ball stand, baseball gloves
Objective:
For the batting team to run from cone to cone while giving the batter high fives, before the fielding team makes 3 consecutive and successful passes.
Other Skills:
Coordination
Speed
Set up:
Set up a base or another object for home plate.
Place a pylon or hoop around 15 feet in front of home plate, this will be the "pitcher's mound".
Place two cones on opposite sides of home plate, and around 8 feet away from home plate.
Divide participants into two equal groups.
One team will start as the batting team, and all but one participant will stand behind one of the cones.
The other team is the fielding team, and they will spread out around the field.
Step by Step:
1. The fielding team will spread out around the field. One participant on the fielding team will be the pitcher, and they will stand at the pitcher's mound (the pylon or hoop). Another participant from the fielding team will be the back catcher, and stand a safe distance behind the batter.
2. All but one of the batting participants will stand behind one of the cones in a straight line.
3. The one batting participant not in the line will start as the batter.
4. They will stand next to home plate with the baseball bat.
5. The pitcher will underhand throw the ball to the batter.
6. When the batter hits the ball, they will drop the bat and stand where they are with their hand out.
7. All the batting team participants will run in their single file line and give a high five to the batter.
8. Once they all go past the cone on the other side, they turn and run back to the batter to give them a high five again.
9. As they are running, the fielding team has to make 3 (or so) consecutive and successful passes, with the last pass ending at the pitcher.
10. Once they made 3 passes and the pitcher has the ball, they yell "Stop!" and the batting team stops running.
11. The number of times the whole team ran from cone to cone and gave the batter a high five, is the number of runs that team scored for that batter.
12. The next batter is up.
13. If a batter gets 3 strikes, then they are out.
14. Play until the batting team gets 3 outs, or all (or some) of the participants have gone, or until they scored a certain amount of runs. Then the batting team goes into the field and the fielding team is up to bat.
Variations:
If a fielding participant catches the ball before it hits the ground, then that counts as an out.
If a batter gets 4 balls, then the batting team automatically scores 4 runs.
Use a soccer ball, and the batting team has to kick the ball. The fielding team has to make 5 passes, with the last pass ending at the pitcher.
The batter will run to the line of the other batting participants and have to run and give each of them a high five and then run back on the other side.
Use a t-ball stand, and the batting team will hit the ball off the stand.
Sources: Developed for the Leisure Information Network.