Nursery World - Positive Relationships: Home learning

Playing ball games advances a range of developmental skills. Penny
Tassoni explains how to help children play and learn.

For many of us, our childhood involved playing games with a ball. Balls are versatile playthings: they can be caught, thrown, hit or even dodged. There are also many important developmental skills involved in using a ball.

FIVE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BALL SKILLS

1. Vision and perceptual skills

Throwing, catching or kicking a ball is a great way to help children's visual and perceptual skills. Even babies around eight months old will watch and try to reach out for a ball that is rolled to them. Catching an oncoming ball requires children to track it, recognise its speed and also to move into a position to receive it. These skills are quite sophisticated and this is one reason why children find it harder to catch rather than to throw.

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