Solo balloon volleyball
To me, if life boils down to one thing, it’s movement. To live is to keep moving. ―Jerry Seinfeld
👥 Serves: 1 person
🎚 Difficulty: Easy
⏳ Total time: 11-30 minutes
🥣 Ingredients: 1 sports/yoga mat (or 1 blanket if you don’t have a mat), 1 balloon, 1 ribbon (or any kind of rope), 1 adult facilitator (for younger children)
🤓 Wholebeing Domains: Awareness, Liberatory Learning, Ritualising
💪 Wholebeing Skills: Exercising, Focus, Fun, Movement, Play
Solo balloon volleyball
📝 Description
Who said volleyball can’t be played alone?
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many children and young people indoors, preventing them from playing outside. This is causing many physical and emotional issues, so it is important to find alternative solutions to help them continue to play at home, be fit, and cope with the emotional burden brought on by the pandemic.
The following recipe has been adapted from “The Sports Kit Activities” to encourage home learning, kindly shared with us by Dream a Dream. This activity has been developed considering the pandemic situation so it can be conducted safely from home and is most suitable for young people between the ages of 8 and 14. We recommend having an adult to facilitate it but teenagers can experience it without adult facilitation.
Check out more wellbeing recipes for children and young people adapted from Dream a Dream’s kits: Balance the ball, Colourful confusions, Draw it in your own style, Portraiture, and Tree talk.
👣 Steps
Step 1 – Warm-up (10’)
Open your sports/yoga mat (use a blanket if you don’t have a mat, so the surface is not as hard) and warm up with the following core exercises:
- Superman: Lie on your front, keeping both your arms and legs extended. Lift opposite arm and leg and bounce 10 times. Lower them and repeat with the other two.
- Bridge: Turn around and lie on your back. Keep your legs bent with your feet flat on the floor (and hip-width apart). You should be able to touch your heels with the tips of your fingers. Slowly raise your buttocks and hips off the floor, to create one oblique line from your knees to your shoulders. Hold it for 10 seconds before releasing. Repeat 5 times, slowly.
- Metronome: Lie on your back, keep your knees bent to 90 degrees but this time the feet are raised so your shins are parallel to the ground. Extend your arms to the side. Slowly lower one foot at the time, touching the floor with your toes. Lift it back up and repeat on the other side. Do it 5 times on each side.
- Plank lift: Lie down on your belly. Place your forearms on the mat and raise yourself onto your elbows. The shoulders, knees, and ankles should be in a straight line. Hold this pose for 10 seconds before releasing. Repeat 3 times.
Step 2 – Play (10’)
Now that you have warmed up, you are ready to play! Remove the sports/yoga mat or blanket. Set up your ribbon or rope to act as a net and blow up a balloon for a ball. Then challenge yourself to play volleyball on both sides of the net! You must hit the balloon up and over the ribbon, before scooting under to hit it from the other side and so on until the balloon wafts to the ground.