Ball Skills - Lesson 1

In the initial lesson of a Nursery Ball Skills series, young pupils are introduced to the basics of handling and moving with equipment such as bean bags and balls. The learning objectives are centered around safe equipment handling with confidence. To achieve success, pupils must demonstrate the ability to balance and move with a bean bag on a body part, confidently move while holding a ball, and attentively follow and listen to instructions. The key vocabulary introduced includes terms like balance, confidence, focus, co-ordination, pass, and roll. The required equipment for the lesson comprises cones, bean bags, large soft balls, and a bucket or box. The warm-up session involves a bean bag line-up activity where pupils pass a bean bag in various ways within a group and the final pupil runs to the front of the line, with variations such as increasing the distance between pupils to extend the challenge.

The main part of the lesson, lasting 15 minutes, focuses on ball familiarisation to build pupils' confidence and gross motor skills. Teachers demonstrate activities such as sitting on the ball, balancing with one foot on the ball, rolling the ball up the body, and passing the ball around the waist or between hands. A ball relay activity follows, where pupils are split into small groups and take turns running with the ball to a partner across the hall. The lesson concludes with a cool-down activity called Scatter Bean Bag, where pupils are tasked with collecting scattered bean bags and placing them in a bucket within a set time, with variations and extensions to cater to different skill levels. Pupil talk is encouraged throughout the lesson to reflect on the activities and their growing confidence in using a ball.