tall ball race

Overview
The children will have a relay race using a ball as they recognize and produce words that rhyme with tall, such as all, ball, call, crawl, and small.

Literacy Activities
Relay race with a ball

• Divide the children into teams and give each team one ball.
• Have one child from each team race to the designated wall and back doing actions as follows:
  • Round 1: Hold the ball and crawl.
  • Round 2: Hold the ball high above the head and run "tall" with the ball.
  • Round 3: Hold the ball and run very small (squatting down and running very low to the ground).
• Repeat the sequence of running to the wall as many times as needed to let every child have a turn.
• While one child from each team races, have the other children who are waiting chant the following phrase:
  • Round 1: "Crawl, crawl, crawl with the ball!"
  • Round 2: "Tall, tall, tall with the ball!"
  • Round 3: "Small, small, small with the ball!"
• Help the children recall the words they heard that rhyme with tall.

More Practice
Produce words that rhyme with ball

• Remind the children of the words they played with that rhyme with tall.
• Sit in a circle and roll the ball to each other
• When a child receives the ball have them stand up tall and say a word that rhymes with tall (support as needed). 
• After the child has shared a rhyming word, have the child pass the ball to another child.

Recognize rhyming words 

• Have the children repeat a set of two words (e.g., ball, tall).
• Ask the children to stand up tall if the words rhyme and stay down small if the words do not rhyme (support as needed).
• Repeat with other sets of words: (e.g., call, stall; fall, mall; hall, cat; all, doll; brawl, crawl; wall, truck).