Ladle Ball Soup

Children are cooks who use a ladle to scoop paper balls out of a pot (bucket), carry them around without dropping them and tip them into another pot to make soup. It builds grasping with a tool, keeping an object balanced and emptying with control.

How to play

1. The teacher shows how to scoop a ball "like serving soup" and carry it with the ladle held level (2 min).
2. Each cook practices scooping and dropping balls in place, in and out of the bucket (2 min).
3. The kitchen opens: we carry balls from the full pot to the empty pot, walking around the cone stovetops (3 min).
4. If a ball falls, pick it up with the ladle only, no hands (2 min).
5. Switch hands and paths: now the pot is farther away and we zigzag between the cones (2 min).
6. Taste test: the teacher stirs, everyone says "Yummy!" and puts the ladles back (1 min).

Rules

• Ladles are just for soup: no bumping anyone with them.
• One ball per trip.
• If it falls, scoop it up with the ladle and keep going.
• Cooks walk in the kitchen; no running.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: put the empty pot on the child's lap or table; other cooks bring balls so the child can scoop and empty them.
• Low vision: tie a bell to each pot so it jingles, and use big foil balls that shine and crinkle.
• Less hand control: use wider ladles or a big long-handled strainer.

Learning goals

• Pick up and release objects with a long-handled tool.
• Keep an object steady while walking.
• Adjust speed so the load doesn't fall.

Equipment for a class of 25

• Kitchen ladles: 25
• Crumpled newspaper balls: 80
• Buckets: 6
• Cones: 6

Teacher tip

Make tight paper balls about the size of a tangerine so they don't fall apart. Kids usually rush with the ladle tilted; teach them to watch the ball, not their feet.

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