Fall Ball

Setting: DPA

Season: Fall

Activity Goal

Participants use the natural features of their outside playing area to practice sending objects to a target in order to complete a co-constructed course in as few moves as possible.

For participant safety, please review the contents of the Beyond the Walls: Safety Considerations page for information on Safety Standards, Fall Safety Considerations, and Outdoor Playing Areas and Surfaces.

Equipment

• Flagging tape or spray chalk, or up to 10 each of bowling pins/pylons
• Variety of types of balls or ultimate discs for sending to a target (one per participant)

Before Play

• Review the safety rules and activity instructions with participants prior to the activity.
• Establish the boundaries for the designated playing area and share them with participants.
• Divide participants into small groups of two to six. For each group, direct participants to set up a circuit of five targets within the designated playing area.
• Encourage participants to utilize features of the playing area as their target and provide them with the materials to mark each target (e.g., tree, boulder, tree stump). Emphasize that, when selecting a target, participants must check that it is a safe distance away from other targets around them, so they are not hit by a thrown object.
• Instruct participants to identify a throwing line where all throwers must stand behind when throwing. Only when all objects have been thrown can throwers cross the line to retrieve objects for the next throw.
• Encourage participants to experiment with the distance between targets, the size of different targets and the types of throws (e.g., underhand, overhand, lob).
• Direct each participant to select a ball or alternate implement that will be used to send to the target.

During Play

• One at a time, participants send their object to make contact with the first target. Encourage participants to hit the target in as few attempts as possible. Direct them to consider strategies that not only improve their own chances of success, but also impedes the success of others (e.g., by throwing their object at their opponent’s object while in the air to knock it out of the way of hitting the target).
• Remind participants that they can’t touch or move their object after they have sent it until their next turn.
• Each remaining participant then attempts to contact the same target using their object in as few moves as possible.

After Play

Use the following prompts for participants to reflect on ways to be active in fall and engage others in activity to build a habit of engaging in outdoor activity throughout the year.

Question prompts:

• What happened when you varied the amount of force used when sending your ball toward the target?
• When playing against other participants, how do you choose where to aim to hit the target or aim to hit the other participants’ object out of the way?
• How did the type of implement you choose impact the success of hitting your target?
• How might playing this activity during a different season impact your choice of materials for this game?
• How did you have to account for weather conditions when sending your object (e.g., wind, angle of the sun)?

Adaptations

Consider these tips to maximize the challenge and the fun for participants.

• Encourage participants to select a different object for use with each round of play and examine how the choice of object impacted the game play.
• Provide a variety of implements and encourage participants to attempt using an implement to send their object. Ask them to examine how it impacted game play.

Modifications

Consider these tips to maximize inclusion and fun for all participants.

• For participants with mobility issues, consider having participants work in partners to connect with each of the targets.
• For participants that are blind/low vision, consider providing a small bell for another participant to ring at the target location to help the participant who is blind/low vision locate the target.