Hand-eye coordination is a very important developmental skill. Playing ball provides a fun, simple way to begin the learning process. Introduce playing ball to your child at a very early age. Here's how:
1. When your child is very young, start rolling a big bouncing ball to him or her and ask for it to be rolled back. If he or she doesn? roll it back, retrieve the ball and keep trying.
2. It will take time in the beginning for your child to be able to complete this task. Keep working with your child. This is a skill that he or she will get better at over time. Be patient!
3. As they grow and mature, you can start bouncing the ball for your child to catch. Again, be easy on him or her, always remember to praise his or her ability, e.g., "good catch," "great toss!"
4. When your child has mastered bouncing and catching, move on to tossing the ball directly into his or her hands.
5. Look directly into your child? eyes while telling him or her to "watch the ball" and slowly pull your arm back to show your child the movement involved in the toss.
6. Have your child hold his or her hand out in readiness to catch.
7. Remind your child to keep his or her eyes open.
8. It is not important if the ball slips through your child? hands, keep working with him or her on it! Remember, it takes time!
9. If your child is really good at playing catch, you might want to purchase a baseball and baseball mitt.
10. You and your child can have hours of fun playing catch in the back yard or park while exercising great motor and eye-hand coordination skills.
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