During my childhood, we made balls by wrapping newspaper around a stone or by weaving the coconut palm leaves around a stone and used it to play hand ball, foot ball and throw ball. Some others made a bouncing ball by putting together rubber threads left on the tree after tapping. The plastic balls were not in the market at that time. I remember getting a tennis ball for my birthday once. Later a foot ball!
As I walked into a mall recently, I noticed a section on balls with three shelves, full of different of sizes and patterns.
This ball in the photo above, which our grandchildren play with, glows with multiple lights flashing when rolled. Even Dulcie gets fascinated by the colours when rolled. I thought that this is a good toy, to roll in front of a child when a child is ready to crawl.
At my work place the professionals are fond of using different balls which have different functions. There are balls with sound and light. There are balls which illuminate in darkness. Some balls emit light when firmly grasped in the palm. They use soft and firm balls to help children to squeeze to make sounds thereby improving the muscle tone and strength of the fingers and wrist.
What a world of fun if children would have a collection of different balls in a Child's corner at home!
The Stycar graded balls, white in colour, in different sizes which correspond to the Snellen's chart for testing the visual acuity in children have been my companion for thirty five years now.
The ball pool that we have for children at my work place is one favourite play activity for many children. It is therapeutic to create multiple sensory stimuli in different parts of the body simultaneously!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
No comments:
Post a Comment