Kids who throw without a target throw randomly. A bucket gives them something to aim for, and the sound of the ball hitting the plastic is the reward. Aim is the part of throwing parents skip.
What you need: 10 tennis balls or soft baseballs. One 5-gallon bucket on its side, opening facing the kid.
Setup: Place the bucket 10 feet from where the kid throws. Open end faces them. Put all 10 balls in a pile next to where they stand.
How to run it:
- Walk through the throwing cue: Turn, Shuffle, Point, Fire. Today we focus on Point and Fire.
- They pick up a ball, turn sideways, point the glove arm at the bucket opening, and fire.
- Don’t help on the first 3 throws. Let them feel where the ball goes.
- After 10 throws, count how many landed in the bucket. Tell them the number.
- Reset and do another round. They will try harder when they know the score.
What to watch: Is the glove arm pointing at the bucket before the throw? If they’re firing without pointing first, the ball goes everywhere. Point first, then throw.
If they’re struggling: Move the bucket to 6 feet. Lay it flat with the opening facing up so any throw that lands on top counts.
If they’ve got it: Move the bucket to 15 feet. Or stack two buckets and they have to hit the top one.