what to do with 20 bouncy balls?

[orangecake]

I help run a music therapy class for babies and toddlers with special needs and we have been given a donation of 20 balls. They are similar in size to a beach ball I suppose (maybe a little smaller) and I would quite like to use them in class with the children.

I have in mind doing something with music, but not sure what.

Thought we could put the children on top of the balls on their tummies and roll them backwards and forwards and maybe sing "row row your boat" but not sure.

I have seen adverts for Gymboree Music who do something similar, but I have no idea what they do.

The activity needs to be safe obviously but I am really stuck for ideas. It's my 2nd week helping out and I want to really impress the therapist!

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated, especially from anyone who may have used balls in a similar way, or seen it done.

I forgot to say, each child would have one or two parents or carers helping them out!

any ideas? [grin}

bounce/throw the balls in time to the music

Hi there southeastastra,

many of the children wouldn't be able to bounce the balls themselves, but I'm sure that they would enjoy watching their carer do it for them, especially if we had some catchy music (the balls are assorted colours, so look really nice)

I am trying to come up with a way to make the activity more tactile, by encouraging the children to touch or feel the ball or somehow get involved in the movement of the ball which is why I was wondering about the rolling on tummies thing! (worried that some of them may feel sick though )

always grateful for any more suggestions, I am planning this activity for next Friday

children love to see adults throw balls really high. rolling on their tummies sounds good though. good luck with it

rolling balls across the circle might be easier than bouncing?

Do you know any songs that include children's names? If so that might get some music involved?

We used to do the sitting on a ball / lying on a ball thing at school specifically for the sn children. It was really really good.

Hi wrigglejiggle (love the name!) can you tell me more about the activity you did. What music did you use (if you remember!) and what ages were the children.

Did it feel safe (i'm scared that a child might roll off, although they will always have a parent/carer with them)

keep the idea errr rolling in

Don't know about with music, but what about things like children sitting in a circle and then ball rolled to a child, saying that child's name at the same time. The ball then gets rolled to someone else, saying their name, etc.
Or having the ball in front of toddler, roll the ball forwards, run after it, stop it and then roll ball back to partner.
Or how far can you walk while holding ball out at arms length, balancing it on hands (or just holding it) - this depends on age/ ability of child.
Can you stand back and throw ball into a hoop that is on the ground?
Don't know if that helps at all, just some ideas.

i have been really thinking about this but couldn't come up with anything.
I really hope you don't mind but I have put a link to this thread in sn. I am sure someone on there(with a younger child than me will have agood idea.

Message withdrawn

Not sure about "sn" suggestions..BUT at dd's music class (when she was around 9 months) the teacher would sit in front of dd and dd would sit between my legs with her legs open. The teacher would then sing " I roll the ball to x, she rolls it back to me. I roll the ball to x, she rolls it back to me. Roll the ball, roll the ball, roll the ball to me.." while rolling the ball back and forth to dd. This would be rolled several times during the song.

DD and the others in her class used to love this and got so excited when the ball came out. She loved the opportunity to roll the ball, of course with mums guidance .
I'm sure it would also work with children with sn..??

shhhh's suggestion sounds fun
but not if they have cp as then putting legs straight can hurt.

didn't think of that... but maybe it can be rolled to them in a way they could feel involved.?? Sorry to sound so "stupid" but not having a dc with sn it's hard to picture things...

All these suggestions are great and thanks for the link 2shoes!

I am probably trying to over complicate this, a simple activity will be just as effective. I like the rolling the ball backwards and forwards suggestions - perhaps we could even get the parents facing each other in pairs and they can roll the ball backwards and forwards to each other with the children on their laps!

.