Not So Lazy Days: Passing the time by learning how to throw and catch a ball
Sports & Games
Baseball is the sport of summer. So, this week, the boys are becoming the boys of summer with baseball activities.
One essential part of baseball is throwing and catching. Unfortunately, the oldest one is a late bloomer (like his mommy) on these sorts of things, so he and the little one both needed to learn before playing an actual game of catch.
They each took turns, getting five catches and throws per turn. I showed them how to step into their throws, and they both picked up on that pretty quickly, throwing farther and harder (seriously, I was beginning to wish I was wearing a mitt!) with each throw. When paying attention, both already had pretty good aim.
Even though my husband wouldn't agree with this teaching, I taught the boys how I learned to catch initially, by cupping my hands and bringing them into my chest when the ball got to me. I know this isn't the way Jeter catches a ball, but everybody's got to start somewhere.
(I, by the way, can catch a ball with one hand-- which impressed the boys a few times-- so, you can graduate from one level of catching to another.)
Then, on the third round on the third toss, the oldest one caught the ball! We cheered and clelebrated, and then he decided it was his brother's turn. In two tosses, the little one caught the ball!
After the excitement died down, we got into a triangle formation and played a three-way catch, At first, I was throwing to the little one, and he was catching maybe 5 out of 10, but the oldest one wasn't catching anything his bother was throwing. So, we changed it up and I started throwing to the oldest one. He caught 5 out of 7.
A boy who was almost scared to catch a ball earlier in the day was catching 5 out of 7 balls thrown to him by the end of the afternoon. I think the first catch gave him the confidence he needed to learn the new skill.
About the Not So Lazy Days series
I've challenged myself to find a new activity to do five days a week every week of the kids' summer vacation. Activities will fall under one of three categories: Arts & Crafts, Sports & Games or Field Trips. Follow me on Twitter @readallaboutsam for immediate updates on posts!