Baseball & Softball Activities for Physical Education

Baseball season is coming up and it is a great time for students to work on throwing, catching, striking, running, hand-eye coordination and much more! These activities, assessments, and bulletin board ideas we’ve compiled from PE Central will help make sure your Baseball/Softball unit is a home-run!

Bulletin Boards

• Play Ball!

This bulletin board is perfect for the start of the unit. It includes basic tips for throwing, hitting and pitching along with visual cues to help the group see what proper mechanics actually look like. With this board, kids will come in with a bit more confidence because they’ve seen what they are supposed to do. It also works as a great reminder for the following classes, as good technique will be reinforced through constant exposure.

• Take Me Out to the Ballgame:

This bulletin board is interactive! The question is listed on the board and the children can flip the baseball up to see the answer. Some of the questions are: How many play on the field?, What are the bases? What equipment is used? How many strikes make an out? What is a full count? and you can make up your own. Great for teaching the rules and regulation of the baseball or softball.

Assessments

• Batting Assessment: A handy batting assessment checklist that makes it easy to fully evaluate the technique of someone’s baseball/softball swing.
• Batting Swing:  This assessment is more writing focused, as students have to write out the steps and fundamentals of a good swing in paragraph form. Plays into the idea that you don’t fully understand a concept until you can teach and explain it.

Instant Activities

• One Step Throw & Catch: This activity is simple and works for any age group! Excellent way to warm-up!
• Throw and Catch Challenge Warm Up: Great fast-paced activity for the group to warm up their arms for throwing. Works best for younger groups, but can be modified for more advanced groups.

Lessons for Grades 3-5

• Race Ball: This activity adds batting into the classic game of “Wall Ball”. Great for batting practice, fielding and throwing.
• Throw and Run Challenge: A good active game that also allows students to work on the fundamentals of throwing and catching.

Lessons for Middle School

• Slow Pitch Softball: This lesson helps students learn how to properly pitch for slow pitch softball.
• Striking – Toss and Hit: Great activity to work on making solid contact with the ball. Easy to alter to fit any class level.

Lessons for Grades 9-12

• Agility Ability Stars: A good game for working on agility, which is vital for base-running and fielding.
• Dare Base: This game isn’t exactly baseball or softball, but it helps with base-running. Students have to make decisions on when its safe to run, which is crucial for baseball/softball.

In summation, we hope that these lesson plan ideas, warm-up activities and bulletin board suggestions help get your group playing like All-Stars!

Search for more baseball/softball related activities from PE Central here. Play on!