Active Participation: Fun Games and Challenges

Balloons are fun for kids and great for playing indoors. If you don’t have a balloon, you can use some recycled paper rolled into a ball, or a beach ball (if you are outside, or have a large enough empty space). These games can be played by children of all ages, by themselves, or with others in their home.

Skills being developed:

  • hand-eye coordination, gross and fine motor control, timing, and the ability to track moving objects in the air

Game “Rules”

Balloon Volleyball or Tennis

This can be done standing or sitting; on your own, or with a partner.

  • Goal (if playing with a partner): count how many volleys back and forth you can do without the balloon hitting the floor or walls. Variation: create a net (e.g. a string going across a distance between two chairs, or the back of a couch) to volley over. Make a goal (e.g. 20 volleys without the balloon hitting the floor), then try to beat it!
    • For Tennis, the same rules apply but you use a racquet (e.g., fly swatter, a paper plate taped to a tube or stick, a real racket, or a paddle) to hit the balloon over the net.
  • Goal (if playing on your own, it is sometimes called Balloon Juggling): count how many times you touch the balloon without it hitting the floor or walls. Make a goal for yourself (e.g. to have 20 touches) and then try to beat it!

Balloon Batting or Balloon Soccer

For the batting you can use a cardboard tube (e.g., from wrapping paper, or paper towel tube); for soccer, only a balloon is needed.

  • Goal (for Balloon Batting): to toss the balloon and strike it with a “bat”. Try to hit a target on the floor (e.g., a tile on the floor), or on the wall, or an object like the back of a chair. Increase the distance to the target, to challenge yourself.
  • Goal (for Balloon Soccer): to kick the balloon at a target, or through a target (e.g. goal posts).

Adapted from Activities for Life (Click the link to see visuals and detailed descriptions of these and other games)