Do It Yourself: Sound Ball

Here is a simple adaptation to create a ball that makes some noise.  This is a great tool to work on catching or hitting a ball for children who are visually impaired or who are just learning how to catch.  By adding the noise to the ball, it provides additional sensory input for the child to locate where the ball is traveling.

I had an old tennis ball and ping pong ball that I used for this project.  Cut a large slit in the tennis ball using an exacto knife.  Cut a small ‘X’ in the ping pong ball again using an exacto knife.  Push some metal beads or BB’s inside the ping pong ball.  Now push the ping pong into the tennis ball.

You can glue the tennis ball shut or use duct tape to close it back up but this does quiet the noise.  If you leave the slit in the tennis ball alone the ping pong ball will not fall out and it makes a louder noise.  You can still bounce the ball as well.

The additional noise will help the children to focus their attention on the ball coming towards them.