School-Age: Baseball

It's that time of year when baseball starts picking up speed and won't slow down again until the end of summer. So it is the perfect time to talk about baseball, especially baseball MUD!

1. Reading
We read the book "Miracle Mud: Lena Blackburne and the Secret Mud That Changed Baseball" by David A. Kelly. I had NO idea that baseball players rubbed baseball with mud to take their shine away and make them safer to play with. But this is a fascinating (and short) read that is perfect to read-aloud to a group of school-age kids. And it is super neat that the major leagues STILL use baseball mud to this day.

2. Discussion
We had a very brief discussion about the sport of baseball. How many bases? Who throws the ball? Etc.

3. Activity
I had stations with different exercises/activities that the kids could do to practice their baseball skills. I explained each station and then, before they were allowed to go to each station, I had them warm-up with me. We did 10 jumping jacks together and then ran in place.

As for the stations, I explained to the kids that they got two tries at each station. I had two tennis balls at each of the stations and once they used both tennis balls they had to give them to the next person in line. Then they had to move on to a new station OR go to the back of the line at that station. 

The only major rule, besides the turn-taking, was that they throw the tennis balls UNDERHAND only. This was for the safety of the other kids in the program and people/shelves in the library. Especially for our larger program on Friday morning, this was an important rule to have. I told them they get only one warning and then, if they did it again, they were out.

3a. Station 1 - Bowling Pins
The kids had 5 bowling pins they could knock down with tennis balls. Once they had their turn at this station, it was their responsibility to set the pins up for the next kid in line.

3b. Station 2 - Buckets
I had 1 large bucket and 2 small cans that the kids could try to get the balls into. If they wanted to keep track, I had them labeled with points. 

3c. Station 3 - Hole Board
I have a board with three holes cut into it that a previous librarian left here. I labeled them with points and the kids had two tries to get into the holes. If they wanted to keep track of points, the bottom hole was the most points because a pitcher could strike someone out if he/she gets the ball low to the ground over the home plate.

4. Craft

If the kids wanted to, the last item on the agenda for this week's program was designing their own baseball cap. Any great team has to have baseball caps! I found a worksheet online like the one here and printed them off for the kids. 

Notes:

The program went great! I felt like it was really important to set out the rules for the activities prior to letting the kids get up and walk around. Especially if you have a large group, you have to make them listen while you have a captive audience. Once they're up and moving around, especially for the kids on the spectrum, you'll never get their attention back.