The Ball Tube
The ball goes in at the top, disappears, and comes out below: pure mechanical magic.
The Ball Tube is a Montessori activity for a child aged 12 to 18 months. Area: Fine Motor. Time: 5-10 min.
What the activity builds
Experience a delayed cause and effect relationship, and aim precisely at an opening.
The materials
- A thick cardboard tube, like a paper towel roll, mounted at an angle and firmly secured to the wall
- Wide, strong tape
- Two or three balls that roll well and pass easily through the tube
- A basket placed at the base of the tube
How to do it, step by step
- Mount the tube at their height, opening at the top, exit above the basket.
- Slide a ball into the opening, without a word, and watch it come out.
- Retrieve the ball from the basket and hand it to them.
- Let them aim for the opening, even if it takes ten tries.
- Start over as many times as they ask, the repetition is the work.
The parent's role
Show once, then step back. Don't guide their hand toward the opening. Missing and trying again IS the activity, and it's the tube that corrects them, not you. Resist the urge to ask for "one more time" once they're done.
Safety
The tube must be firmly secured, it shouldn't come loose when your child leans on it. Balls must be bigger than a toilet paper tube. Check that none get stuck inside the tube, and supervise at all times.
You remain the sole judge of what is right for your child. These activities are offered for educational and recreational purposes: they do not replace medical advice or the guidance of an early childhood professional.
Ways to adapt the activity
- Easier: the tube nearly horizontal, the opening very wide.
- Harder: a longer tube, or a slightly higher opening.
- Extension: two tubes side by side, and they choose which one to use.
Up next
More activities for a 12 to 18 months child.
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