Throwing is one of the early skills for any child. Throwing toys, throwing food, throwing anything thye can get their hands on! As they get older and begin to truly work on this skill we can incorporate it into some intentional movement activities to make it a strength! These 5 simple, daily movement activities will work to improve throwing and also incorporate a variety of different throws and tactics into your daily practice. Whenever we have a skill that is used often, such as throwing, it is important to not simply work on the “splinter” skill (such as a baseball throw) but to add variety in order to increase their potential to become a well-rounded, healthy athlete.
Each one of these simple movement activities are designed to be incorporated into your daily routine as a way to expose your child to new skills, encourage them to do something challenging, and move their bodies. Feel free to add and adjust the activities to suit your individual child and their situation.
Day 1
This movement activity not only incorporates throwing and kicking but it naturally lends itself to running as well! Running = perfect heart rate increaser which is always one of our goals whenever we do movement activities.
When we help our kids to intentionally raise their heart rate every single day, we help them to build a stronger threshold for challenging activities and strengthen their heart for lifelong health which, of course, is our overall goal.
Throughout this activity, encourage your child to throw and kick the ball as far as possible and then run as fast as possible to retrieve their ball. Due to the differing abilities of throwing for children, this activity will naturally scale itself as smaller children will not be throwing or kicking as far and therefore not running as far to retrieve their ball. Encourage older kids to consistently throw and kick the same distance each time!
Have fun and throw far!
Day 2
The activity for day 2 challenges the hand-eye coordination with a variety of different types of balls. Throughout this activity, kids will throw the ball in the air and try to catch it. They can start with smaller throws in order to get warmed up with the ultimate goal to get to a max effort throw and catch for height.
We like to use a variety of balls in this activity because it diversifies the child’s ability and forces them to find a movement solution to complete the task. They must use some trial and error to throw the different sized balls and still be able to catch them. As they find movement solutions throughout this activity they will be expanding their ability box and taking a step on the path to a well-rounded mover.
Grab a ball and start throwing!
Day 3
The challenge for this movement activity is on the child’s vestibular system as they spin and throw into the air! As a reminder, a tabata is :20 seconds of work and :10 seconds of rest for 8 rounds! The goal of a tabata is always to work hard during that :20 seconds because you have a short rest coming!
You can choose how you want to have your children complete this tabata but I would recommend alternating between the spin & throws and the basketball shots so you don’t end up with a very dizzy kid!
Have some fun with this one and see how many shots your child can make each round. Encourage them to be consistent each round and see if they can get just ONE more each time!
Let’s get spinning!
Day 4
Have your child grab a partner (or you!) for this one and their favorite ball then practice a variety of different throws! Stand approximately 10-15 feet apart depending on your child’s ability and then practice each throw 15-20 times. Once they are proficient at each throw, see which type of throw they can successfully pass to each other the most amount of times! Then, add more of a challenge and stand farther apart and see if they can get the same amount!
Whenever we are doing movement activities I like to present a little bit of a challenge for the kids. Something tangible for them to work towards and try to accomplish. This also provides an excellent opportunity to celebrate meeting a small goal and can greatly boost their self-esteem. I work to make the challenge something that they can accomplish if they are doing their best work. However, this doesn’t mean they always are successful. Sometimes they may not meet the challenge, and that’s ok. This also presents a great way to reflect on what they did and discuss how they could possible do it different the next times.
One of my favorite things about being intentional in the things we do as parents is the opportunity it presents to help them learn lessons that they will take with them as they grow. Because we want kids who grow into healthy teenagers, and then healthy adults, and then healthy senior citizens. We want kids who have the foundation to become the healthiest version of themselves. And we can start today.
Day 5
5 is a good number. Not too short. Not too long. Perfect for a fun movement activity!
This movement activity incorporates a variety of movements that will get the kids moving their body and also working on their throwing skills. Before beginning, demonstrate each movement for the kids and have them practice a few times so they are familiar with what they will be doing. It also may be a good idea to write down the different movements for them, I like to do it in chalk on the driveway, so they can remember what to do!
As they move through each movement, encourage the kids to do quality work. Yes, it is fun to get through each movement quickly but we want kids to do things WELL not simply do them quickly. We would rather have kids that do perfect movements and finish last than kids who do sloppy movements and finish first. Quality over quickness!
Get moving and have some fun!
Bonus Activity
Family trick shot challenge (basketball, soccer, tennis, etc)
What better way to top off a variety of throwing activities than with a family trick-shot challenge?! You can choose to do this in a variety of ways, a basketball shot or a ping pong shot. Even a soccer shot or a tennis ball shot will work! Get creative and come up with some fun ways to complete the challenge!
There are countless videos on trick shots on Youtube if you need some inspiration!
Let's move!
-Coach Hannah