I learned the imaginary ball game at a workshop. It’s pretty straightforward:
I take a pretend ping pong ball from my pocket and say, “I have a pretend ping pong ball here. I’m going to throw it to someone, and that person is going to pretend to catch it. After he catches it, he can turn it into anything else and throw it to someone who hasn’t had a turn. Everyone will get a turn.”
I usually throw it to another adult first so that the children get the idea. As it takes on different forms and qualities, I may to comment on it: “A house?! That’s going to be really big to hold in your arms. You’re going to have to use your muscles to throw it!” By acting it out, they (and others) get more of a sense of the properties of what they are throwing.
When everyone has had a turn, the last child throws it back to me, and I turn it back into a ping pong ball and put it in my pocket.
I take a pretend ping pong ball from my pocket and say, “I have a pretend ping pong ball here. I’m going to throw it to someone, and that person is going to pretend to catch it. After he catches it, he can turn it into anything else and throw it to someone who hasn’t had a turn. Everyone will get a turn.”
I usually throw it to another adult first so that the children get the idea. As it takes on different forms and qualities, I may to comment on it: “A house?! That’s going to be really big to hold in your arms. You’re going to have to use your muscles to throw it!” By acting it out, they (and others) get more of a sense of the properties of what they are throwing.
When everyone has had a turn, the last child throws it back to me, and I turn it back into a ping pong ball and put it in my pocket.
