Materials Required
- Plastic cups or containers
- Soft ball or socks
- Pen or marker
Preparation
Write or stick letters on cups (single letter on each cup)
Method (or Ideas)
- Line the cups up, reading out the letter as you go.
- Give your child a small soccer ball (or any soft ball), and instruct them to kick the ball toward the letter cups.
- When the cup is knocked down, say the letter on the cup.
- For a more advanced version, say a letter first, and see if they can aim for the corresponding cup.
- Repeat the experience with a smaller ball and encourage your child to throw the ball towards the letters
Facilitation Tips – What To Say
- Use the letter and the sound that the letter makes
- Use the letter and a familiar word that starts with the letter – B for ball
- Encourage your child to match a word to the sound they can hear in the letter.
Extend the Experience
- Use a stack of paper plates or sheets of paper, and write one giant letter on each one. Then use packing tape to secure each plate to a spot on the floor and spread them around the room. Have your child start on one side of the room and try to jump to the other without touching the floor. As they jump to each new spot, have them say the letter or letter sound.
- Instead of letters repeat the game with numbers or shapes!
WHO Guidelines for Physical Activity & Sedentary Behaviour
This encourages gross motor skills of throwing and kicking.
Early Years Learning Framework
Outcomes
- Children engage with a range of texts and gain meaning from these texts
- Children take increasing responsibility for their own health and physical wellbeing
Principle
Principle 1: Secure, respectful and reciprocal relationships. Through a widening network of secure relationships, children develop confidence and feel respected and valued.
Practice
Practice: Learning through play. Play can expand children’s thinking and enhance their desire to know and to learn. In these ways play can promote positive dispositions towards learning. Children’s immersion in their play illustrates how play enables them to simply enjoy being.
