Windstorm Balls: Each One to Its Bucket

The teacher plays the wind and scatters lots of soft balls across the playground; children run to collect them and carry them one at a time to the bucket of the matching color. It's a warm-up built around cleaning up together, just like after every throwing game.

How to play

1. We sit next to the four buckets and see what color each one is (1 min).
2. The teacher blows like the wind and tosses balls everywhere; we run for one and drop it in its bucket (2 min).
3. Again, but this time we waddle like penguins, no running (1 min).
4. Last storm: we collect in pairs, carrying one ball between the two of us (1 min).
5. We look at the full buckets and give the cleanup crew a big round of applause (1 min).

Rules

• I carry just one ball at a time.
• I put it in the bucket, I don't throw it.
• If I bump a friend, I stop and say sorry.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: the child stays by a bucket as the "keeper" who receives the balls and puts them in.
• Visual impairment: use balls with a bell inside and buckets with different textures (bumpy, smooth).
• Autism: the child can collect in a calmer zone with their own bucket, away from the crowd.

Learning goals

• Get the body going with running and bending.
• Sort by color.
• Learn to clean up equipment together.

Equipment for a class of 25

• soft balls: 30
• buckets: 4

Teacher tip

Toss the balls far from the buckets so there's some distance to cover. Make it clear from day one that "cleanup is part of the game"; this warm-up turns it into a routine for the whole unit.

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