Balance the ball
In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you. ―Deepak Chopra
👥 Serves: 1 person
🎚 Difficulty: Medium
⏳ Total time: 11-30 minutes
🥣 Ingredients: 1 empty space, 1 football, 1 smaller ball, 1 sports mat or 1 blanket (for the warm-up), 1 adult facilitator (for younger children)
🤓 Wholebeing Domains: Awareness, Liberatory Learning, Ritualising
💪 Wholebeing Skills: Balance, Focus, Fun, Mindfulness, Movement, Play
Balance the ball
📝 Description
A simple activity to practise balance for children and young people.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many children and young people indoors, preventing them from playing outside. This is causing many physical and emotional issues, so it is important to find alternative solutions to help them continue to play at home, be fit, and cope with the emotional burden brought on by the pandemic.
The following recipe has been adapted from The Sports Kit Activities to encourage home learning, kindly shared with us by Dream a Dream. This activity has been developed considering the pandemic situation so it can be conducted safely from home and is most suitable for young people between the ages of 8 and 14. We recommend having an adult to facilitate it but teenagers can experience it without adult facilitation.
Check out more wellbeing recipes for children and young people adapted from Dream a Dream’s kits: Colourful confusions, Draw it in your own style, Portraiture, Solo balloon volleyball, and Tree talk.
👣 Steps
Step 1 – Warm-up (5’)
Begin with a few simple movements to warm up your body.
- Arm movement: Stand on one foot on a soft surface, like a sports mat or a folded blanket. Extend your arms to the sides of your body and start doing small circles with your hands, involving the full arm. You will soon realise the importance of your feet in maintaining balance.
- Head position: Now stop moving your arms but keep them extended to the sides of your body. Change the foot you are standing on. Focus on your head and start turning it side to side, first to the right then to the left. Repeat a few times. Notice how changing the position of your head affects your balance.
- Running movements: Relax your arms and legs for a few seconds. Then start running on the spot on your soft surface. Notice how you need to adapt your running technique to the surface. Do this for a minute or so and observe the changes in your heartbeat.
Step 2 – Play (10’)
Now that you have warmed up, you are ready to play! Remove the sports mat or blanket and make sure you have an empty space. Take the football and the smaller ball.
- Hold the football in one hand and try to balance the small ball while placing it on the football. You can move around to maintain balance, of course! Can you hold it there for at least 10 seconds?
- Try again and see how long you last. Maybe 20 seconds? 30 seconds? 1 minute?!
- Too easy? Swap the two balls: try holding the small ball in one hand and placing the football over it. How long can you hold it there for?
If it’s not clear, watch this short video.
Step 3 – Challenge your friends (optional) (15’)
Why not invite a few friends to try this out and see who can last the longest?