✕ Close Setup
Before you start
  • Check the space and the kit.
  • Get your child's attention first.
  • Show it from two sides.
  • Say one thing only.
  • End on one that works.

Put the phone down where you can see it. Tap Next with your thumb, or use the arrow keys.

Setup · 1 minute

Is the space marked?

  • A net or rope line
  • A serving line
  • A target square on the wall or the floor

A rope or net; three or four hoops on the far side.

Warm up · 3 minutes

Three minutes to get warm.

Easy jogging on the spot, then arms and legs. How to warm up well is explained at workonfitness.com.

3:00
Show it · 1 minute
  1. Stand behind the line, feet apart, the ball held out in front in the non-hitting hand.
  2. Swing the hitting arm back, step forward with the opposite foot, and hit the ball with the palm.
  3. Follow through toward the target; use the same routine each time (a bounce, a breath, then serve).

Show it once from the front and once from the side, slowly. Then let your child try.

The skill · 10 minutes
  1. Feet apart behind the line, ball held out in the other hand.
  2. Step forward with the opposite foot.
  3. Swing and hit with the palm.
  4. Follow through to the target.
  5. Serve to a partner who catches and serves back; step back as it improves.

How much: 20 serves

Hold the ball in front, then swing

10:00
The game · 5 minutes

Battleships

The rules

Hoops on the other side; a serve that lands in a hoop wins it; the first side to win all the hoops wins.

  1. Each side puts 4 hoops on its half
  2. Take turns serving at the other side's hoops
  3. A serve that lands in a hoop wins it: take the hoop away
  4. The first side to win all the other side's hoops wins

Fair play: A grown-up serves from 2 steps further back.

Points
1 point for each hoop won.
Fouls
The serve does not count: a foot over the serving line; throwing the ball over instead of hitting it; the serve goes under the net or rope
Win
The first to win all 4 hoops.
Score
0
  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 4

5:00
Finish · 2 minutes

6 of 10 underhand serves over the net.

0/6

End on one that works. If it was hard today, finish with the easier version.

Finished

Well played.

Saved in this browser only. Next time, "What should we practise today?" picks up from here.