• One oversized plastic bat
• One large whiffle ball
• One batting tee
• One cone
• One hula hoop

Students will be introduced to basic batting stance and to the basic swing.

Students apply movement concepts and principles to the learning and development of motor skills.

With younger students you may want to just let them grip the bat however they feel most comfortable while older kids watch to see that they are grabbing the bat with their strong hand on top.

You may want to use cones to designate the hitting area so no other students enter when someone is swinging.

Remind students not to throw the bat after they hit the ball (set it down).

Cues for correctly striking objects with bats:

• Batting grip (the strong hand should rest above the other hand.)
• Shoulder towards target (turn so that your side faces the target or field.)
• Batting stance (feet should be about shoulder distance apart with knees bent.)
• Bat back (bring the bat over your shoulder so elbows pointed up.)
• Watch the ball (keep your eyes on the ball the entire time.)
• Level swing (extend arms for a flat swing.)
• Shift forward (transfer your body weight from front to back foot.)
• Follow through (continue swinging motion through over your other shoulder.)

Note: For older or more experienced students you can use more of the cues above; with younger or less experienced students you can simply focus on a few of the cues listed.

Set up the batting tee with one ball and one bat for each group of 3 students.

Place the hula hoop next to the tee to help cue the student where to stand.

Set up the cone directly in front of the tee about 20 feet away.

There will be one batter and 2 fielders for each group.

Each batter gets 3 swings per turn.

Once contact is made and a hit ball occurs, the batter begins jumping in and out of the hula hoop.

The two fielders run to retrieve the hit ball and get to the cone.

The batter gets one run/point for every jump in and out of the hula hoop.

The batter keeps jumping in and out of the hula hoop until the fielders get the ball back to the cone.

Once the ball gets back to the cone, the batter take his/her next swing.

The batter continues until he/she has taken 3 swings - then the next player becomes batter.

You may want to mark a hitting area in front of the tee so that the fielders don't run into the hitting area on a really short hit

If you don't have enough equipment you can have more fielders in each group.