Balloon Baseball

Marianas Variety Newspaper
Run Date: June 15, 2007

FOR AGES 1-5
Baseball may be fun but those little balls can hurt and are hard to hit. For young ones, use a balloon!

BALLOON BASEBALL

MATERIALS:
Balloon
Bat: Make a bat out of anything handy, such as the inside cardboard tube of a paper towel roll or a rolled up section of yesterdays newspaper secured with tape.

If you want a bat that will last, try using a large two-liter soft-drink plastic bottle, the kind soft drinks come in. Cut a dowel or stick to fit inside the opening of the plastic bottle. Wrap some duct tape around the dowel and bottle opening to keep it secure and viola; you have a nifty bat (or hockey stick or golf club.)

DIRECTIONS:
Give the bat to your player and toss the balloon at her. The slow movements of a balloon floating towards her gives her plenty of time to line up her bat, swing at the ‘ball" and get the satisfaction of "connecting."

If there is just the two of you, take turns being the pitcher/catcher and the batter.

If there are other players, their job is catching the "ball" as it leisurely floats down. Who ever catches it can have the next turn at batting or give it to someone who hasn’t had enough turns.

After everyone gets all the turns they want, you can change the game to "Golf". Use boxes turned on their sides as "holes" and players see how many strokes it takes to hit the balloon in the box.