Tossing Activity

Overview

Tossing a ball, beanbag, or other small object activates physical focus in support of mental focus. A ball toss stimulates blood flow and activates several brain areas, which in turn increases energy levels and recall for learning.

Use It in the Classroom

Watch how this elementary classroom teacher uses a tossing activity to practice Vocabulary. During this activity, students focus their Attention on the ball and speaker while quickly recalling antonyms.

Teachers can incorporate a tossing activity into various review lessons, such as Decoding challenging words and Vocabulary building. Combining movement and repetition allows learners to practice learned concepts in an engaging way, promoting Short-term and Long-term Memory formation.

Design It into Your Product

Videos are chosen as examples of strategies in action. These choices are not endorsements of the products or evidence of use of research to develop the feature.

See how Super Why! Phonics Fair includes a wonder words ball toss game to encourage Decoding and Sight Recognition. As learners throw word balls to the corresponding pictures, they develop their Vocabulary and Decoding skills.

Products can include a virtual or real-life tossing activity to encourage movement in a fun learning environment. Developers can allow learners to customize the object that is being tossed to include words or visuals that are more relevant to the content they are practicing.

View References

Resources

Below are additional examples, research, and professional development. These resources are possible representations of this strategy, not endorsements.

Examples

Math and Reading Games

Games with balls for PreK-K

Examples

Play Story Ball Activity

Lesson plan for a reading comprehension ball toss activity

Examples

Sight Word Ball Toss

Game to practice sight words

Research

Cognition & Memory

Topic that includes cognitive science theories about how the brain processes information on Digital Promise's Research Map