Simple activities with balls help kids develop coordination, teamwork, and confidence while staying physically active. Throwing, catching, kicking, and rolling balls can improve motor skills, balance, and hand-eye coordination while also promoting social interaction and problem-solving abilities.

Ball games aren’t just fun, they support essential childhood development.

If you’re a parent, teacher, or coach looking for engaging activities to keep your kids off screen-time, the HART Active Play Balls offers a range of safe, durable balls designed for schools, sports programs, and backyard fun.

In this guide, we’ll cover 5 easy ball games for children aged 3–8, along with the best ball sizes and textures to use.

1. D-O-N-K-E-Y

Game idea: Players stand or sit in a circle throwing the ball to one another. If a child drops the ball when it’s thrown to them they’re ‘D’. Another drop and they’re ‘D-O’. Another and they’re ‘D-O-N’. All the way to D-O-N-K-E-Y, until they’re out.

You can choose to throw the ball in an orderly fashion around the circle or allow for randomisation. Adjust the distance between players to make it easier or make it more challenging to catch & throw.

Resources: Any size ball that suits the ability of a group of 3 or more children.

Try it the HART Sport Way

Play the game with the HART Floater Ball or the HART Cage Ball. These are larger sized balls but can stay potentially longer in the air making catching and throwing/passing much more challenging but definitely more entertaining.

The HART Catch Ball is a uniquely shaped ball that has numbers on ends to instantly add an element of numeracy to this game.

2. Piggy in the middle

Game idea: Two children taking turns throwing the ball to each other while a third player, the “piggy”, stands in the middle and tries to intercept and catch the ball. If the “piggy” catches the ball, they switch places with the thrower, who becomes piggy in the middle.

You can opt to increase the number of participants on both sides or increase the number of “piggys”.

Resources: Any size ball that suits the ability of a group of 3 or more children. Use a larger ball, smaller sized or sport-specific ball to adjust the level of difficulty. Here's a video of the game in the context of rugby league drills.

3. Sevens

Game idea: complete the following routine without dropping the ball.

1. Throw the ball at the wall and catch it cleanly.
2. Throw the ball at the wall, let it bounce once on the ground, then catch it.
3. Throw the ball at the wall and clap once before catching it.
4. Throw the ball at the wall, allow one bounce, spin around, and then catch it.
5. Throw the ball and clap your hands behind your back before the catch.
6. Throw the ball, quickly touch the ground, and catch it before it falls.
7. Throw the ball, jump up and clap, then catch it.

Additional Challenge Ideas

You can extend the routine by adding more movements:

• Throw the ball and clap twice before catching it.
• Throw the ball and tap your shoulders before the catch.
• Throw the ball and touch your toes before catching it.
• Throw the ball and turn 180 degrees and back again before the catch.
• Throw the ball and hop on one foot before catching it.
• Throw the ball and sit down then stand back up before catching it.
• Throw the ball and catch it with one hand only.
• Throw the ball and catch it behind your back.
• Throw the ball and switch hands when catching.
• Throw the ball and jump and land on two feet before the catch.

These variations make the activity progressively harder while helping children build coordination, balance, reaction speed, and ball control.

Resources: HART Bounce Playball, a Tennis ball or an equal sized ball

4. Over and Under Ball

Game Idea: This fun game will develop cooperation and teamwork. The object of the game is for the group to pass back the ball either, over their head, under their legs, or alternating methods with each person (ie. first person passes over their head, the second person passes under their legs, third-person over their head, and so on). Here's a video on how the relay is played.

Children can play until all the balls from the center are finished. When the last person in line gets the ball, he or she puts it in the hoops behind him or her. The team that collects the most number of balls wins.

Resources: Any appropriately sized ball for the participating children. Optional hoops at the end for the last player to shoot the ball to.

The HART Pop-up Basketball Goal is a good option to collect the balls and count the score!

5. Bob Ball

Bob Ball is a relay race that can be used to help teach throwing and catching skills. It also works well as a warm up game. It requires students to catch and throw the ball to increasingly large distances. For reference, an illustrated demo can be viewed here.

Game Idea: One player, let's call them captain, stands on one end while 3 or more team players line up at the other end. The captain is to throw the ball to the first team member who will then catch the ball and throw it back to the captain. After throwing the ball back to the captain, the first player sits down immediately, exposing the second player behind to be the next target. The captain then passes the ball again to the second player who passes it back and sits immediately, exposing the third player as the next target.

This will help the children to gauge their passing and catching skills given the increasing distance between the captain and the players. The quicker the sequence is, the better for the overall game.

Resources: A number of different HART play balls are suited for this game. Make sure the size and weight are age appropriate to the participants.

Whether you’re running a school sports program, PE class, childcare centre, or backyard game session, having the right ball makes play easier and more engaging.

The HART Active Play Balls collection includes:

• Soft foam balls for safe throwing games
• Durable playground balls for kicking and bouncing
• Sensory textured balls for younger children
• Multiple sizes for different age groups

Explore the HART Active Play Balls Range here.