Manipulative Skills

INTRODUCTION

▪ In some physical education texts, manipulative skills are describes a

gross motor movements involving force imparted to or received from
objects.
▪ In PE programs, manipulative skills receive the most attention because
they’re sport-related and lend themselves to game playing.
▪ Manipulative skills are more challenging than basic locomotor and
nonlocomotory skills and it should be introduce after children are
comfortable with the basics.

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Non-traditional Manipulative Skill

▪ Before practice traditional, sport-related manipulative skills, introduce

the children with activities that explore the skills with which they are
familiar skills they we performing since they were infant: pulling, pushing,
lifting and striking (with the arms alone).
▪ Exploring these skills with imaginary objects allows the children to
become familiar with the body movement itself.

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Pull

▪ A pull entails resistance and is used to

move something from one place to
another, toward the base support.
▪ To complete this movement, the arms
first extend and then usually bend
▪ Pulling may be prolonged when it
accompanies a locomotor movement,
as when a child pulls a wagon behind
him while walking.
▪ Activities: ask the children to pull
something imaginary in the following
ways:
▪ With both hand, with one hand, with
alternating hands, toward them and
etc

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Push

▪ A push moves something, also against

resistance, from one place to another,
away from the base of support.
▪ A push starts with the arms drawn in
and continues until the arms are
extended.
▪ The movement may be prolonged by
combining it with a locomotor
movement, as when a child pushes a
box across the floor while walking.
▪ Pushing seems to be more difficult for
young children than pulling (Sinclair,
1973)
▪ Repeat the pulling challenges, but
substitute pushing. Also ask the
children to push forwards, downward,
upward, and sideward

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Lift

▪ A lift transports an object from one

place to another by raising it.
▪ When the skill requires carrying an
object.
▪ When moving from a low to a high
level, children must bend the knees
and then straighten them as they lift.
▪ Activity: ask the children to pretend to
lift something very light, first with both
hands, then with one, and finally with
the other. Can they show you how it
would look to move this object from
low to high and from high to low?
▪ Challenges them to repeat the
process, pretending the object is very
heavy.

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Strike

▪ A strike is a strong movement of the

arm ( or arms) in any direction for the
purpose of hitting an object.
▪ The arm must bend to initiate the strike,
extending with both force and speed.
▪ When performed without an
implement such as bat or hockey stick,
the movement abruptly stops, with no
follow-through in the arm motion.
▪ Activity: ask the children to pretend to
strike a big bass drum, swing a bat,
hammer a nail and etc:
▪ Challenge them to try the following
while standing, kneeling and siting:
strike the air with both arms, with one
arm, with alternating arms, upward
and etc, strike with long, short and
medium extension of the arms.

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Traditional Manipulative Skills

▪ Following are descriptions of the traditional manipulative skill

▪ In early childhood, it is important that these skills not be associated with
sports when they are first introduced.

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Throw

▪ Throwing consists of moving an object away from the body

through the air by using the hands.
▪ Following the infant-toddler phase of throwing objects-
tossing food and bottles overhand in a downward
direction –children generally progress from a two-handed
underhand throw to one-handed underhand throw to a
one-handed overhand throw (kirchner, 2001)
▪ The size and weight of the ball dictate the type of throws.
▪ Accuracy is not the first objective when teaching young
children to throw.
▪ They must initially become familiar with the throwing action
itself.
▪ At first use foam or yarn ball – throw against a wall
▪ Next when children ready to move to a greater challenge
– throw at a large target – large box or rubber trash
barrel.

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KICK

▪ Kicking imparts force to an object –

usually ball with leg and foot
▪ Skill requires eye-foot coordination,
which usually is not fully develop until
age 9-10 years old.
▪ Children should practice kicking for
distance frequently to develop a
mature kicking pattern; kicking for
accuracy should not be a concern
until after children have mastered the
mature pattern (Gallahue,1993)
▪ Use beach ball and ask the children to
kick them any way the can, both with
preferred and nonpreferred foot.
▪ Attempts to kick in any way, kick the
ball at a wall (until they gradually
move farther away) and under and
over a suspended jump rope.

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Ball roll

▪ Ball rolling involves moving a ball away

from the body with the hands.
▪ Ball rolling skills are most often
associated with games like bowling
and kickball but are also used in
activities such as bocce, shuffleboard
and curling.
▪ Basic pattern is also seen in underhand
throwing, including pitching in softball
and lifesaving rope-tossing activities.
▪ Accuracy is not the initial objective in
teaching children to roll a ball.
▪ Activity: ask the children to roll balls of
various sizes at the wall. Substitute
targets such as plastic bowling pints
and empty soda bottles, beginning
with large balls and gradually
decreasing their size.

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Volley

▪ Volleying is defined as striking an

object in an upward direction with
the hands or other body parts
excluding the feet.
▪ Body parts typically used for
volleying include the head, arms
and knees, as witnessed during a
game of soccer.
▪ When working on volleying with
young children, use lightweight,
colourful objects like balloon and
beach balls to help ensure
success.
▪ Provide medium or large balloon
for each child and try hitting them
upward and forward with the
hands.

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Bounce

▪ Bouncing, sometimes referred to as dribbling, is

accomplished by striking and object, most often a
ball, in a downward direction with one or both
hands.

▪ The developmental progression:

▪ 1. bouncing and catching,

▪ 2. bouncing and ineffective slapping at the ball

▪ 3. Basic dribbling with the ball in control of the child

▪ 4. basic dribbling with the child in control of the

ball

▪ 5. controlled dribbling with advanced abilities

▪ It is an excellent tool for developing eye-hand

coordination.

▪ Activity: begin with large playground balls or small

beach balls, challenge to bounce and catch using
two hands, varying the numbers of the bounce,
challenge to bounce continuously with two hands
and final challenge is bounce with preferred and
nonpreferred hand.

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Catch

▪ The catching skill of receiving and

controlling an object with the hands
requires children to focus on the
approaching object and make the
adjustments necessary to receive it.
▪ Catching is often more difficult for some
children than others because the fear the
object as it approaches.
▪ Using soft, colourful objects; scarves,
beanbags, balloons, or yarn balls and
large, soft beach ball or foam balls can
alleviate the fear and make visual
tracking easier.
▪ Activity: begin by catching their own
bounced ball. Catching from someone
who is able to throw accurately is the
next challenge. Once children achieve a
certain measure of success, they can try
to catch an object they tossed into the
air themselves.

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Strike

▪ Striking refers to imparting force to an object by

using an implement such as a racket, paddle,
or bat.
▪ This is one last skills children develop because
visual tracking isn’t refined until the elementary
years and because eye-hand coordination is
more challenging at greater distances for the
body; the difficulty of striking increases with the
length of the implement (Graham, Holt/Hale
and Parker, 2003)
▪ Striking lightweight objects with short-handled
implements, young children can experiences
success with this skill.
▪ When initially exploring this skill, the object and
child are stationary. ask the children to strike a
beach ball that is sitting on the floor with large,
lightweight bat or hit a ball off a cone or tee.
▪ Next, child remains still and the object moves
▪ Final challenge, when the object and the child
move (eg: the child keeps a ball in the air with
a paddle)

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Dribble

▪ Although dribbling can refer to

manipulating a ball with the hands, the
term here refers to the manipulation of a
ball with the feet.
▪ Force is imparted to the ball horizontally
along the ground, but unlike kicking, in
which the ball can also travel in a vertical
direction, the goal is not to use force to
gain distance.
▪ The child controls the ball by keeping it
close to the feet.
▪ Dribbling require eye-foot coordination
and a great deal of body control.
▪ Activity: First practice dribbling with a
beanbag, then provide a pathway and
later an obstacle course for them to
dribble through. Encourage them to
alternate their feet.

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Conclusion

▪ Manipulative skills are more challenging than basic locomotor and non-
locomotor skills.
▪ The skills should be explored after children are comfortable with the
basics.
▪ In a developmentally appropriate early childhood PE curriculum, the
manipulation of objects should be secondary to the ability of the body
to manipulate itself through space.

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End of Slides

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