The Balls Play Hide-and-Seek

While children cover their eyes, an adult hides big, medium and small balls around the playground, and everyone heads out to find them and bring them back to the basket. It builds spatial orientation, observation and active movement.

How to play

1. Tell the story: the balls are bored and want to play hide-and-seek; show how many of each size there are (1 min).
2. Children cover their eyes and count to twenty with one adult while another hides the balls in plain view: behind a tree, under a bench, by the water fountain (2 min).
3. Go find them! Each child brings back one ball at a time to the basket and goes for another (3 min).
4. Second round: hide only big balls in trickier spots and give clues: “up high,” “down low,” “behind,” “next to” (3 min).
5. In pairs, children hide a ball for another pair to find (4 min).
6. Count the balls in the basket by size to see if they're all back (1 min).

Rules

• Bring back one ball at a time.
• If a friend is already picking up a ball, look for another.
• Search only inside the playground markers.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: hide some balls in spots at the child's height and let the child give clues to the others.
• Visual impairment: use balls with bells in a smaller area, with a buddy guide.
• Autism: clearly mark the area with cones and use a picture to show when the search ends.

Learning goals

• Find their way using position clues.
• Move actively and safely around the playground.
• Use spatial words such as up, down, in front and behind.

Equipment for a class of 25

• Balls in different sizes: 30
• Basket: 1

Teacher tip

Mark the search area with cones and leave out any risky or hard-to-see spots. Count the balls before and after; one always gets left behind.

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