Equipment - a box full of as many tennis balls as you have, a target

Grade Level - 4-8

Have students stand on a line facing a target. For example, use the center line of a basketball court as the starting point and a backboard as the target. On your signal, students go to the box of tennis balls, grab a few, go back to the line, and begin throwing at the target. Ask them to count how many times they hit the target. Tennis balls will be flying for a while! After a time limit (1-2 minutes), ask them to tell you how many times they were successful in hitting the target. Now, do the same activity, but have your students throw with their non-preferential arm. This is, at times, hilarious to watch. Ask them to again count how many times they hit the target. The differences will be obvious.

This can be used as an extra activity - for those few minutes extra you may have at the end of a class- or for a pre-softball/baseball activity. I don't like to use this activity in younger grades because the kids seem to get hit more often with the tennis balls, but small nerf balls or yarn balls could be substituted along with a closer target.