Feed the Hungry Monster

An aiming game where the child throws overhand at a big monster face on the wall, building throwing accuracy.

  1. Make the monster: tape or chalk a square about 1 meter wide on a wall, with its middle at about your child’s head height. Add eyes and a huge open mouth.
  2. Mark a “feeding line” 2 meters from the wall.
  3. Give your child five soft balls or beanbags — the monster’s “meatballs.”
  4. Your child throws overhand, one at a time, trying to land each one inside the monster. Cue: “Look at the mouth, step, and throw.”
  5. Count how many of the five the monster “ate.” The monster (you) burps loudly for every hit.
  6. When your child hits four or five out of five, move the line back by one big step — up to about 3 meters.

Variation: hang a hula hoop from a tree branch or doorway, or cut a large hole in a cardboard box so the meatballs actually disappear inside.

Requirements

  • Space: A clear wall with 3–4 meters of space in front of it
  • Surface: Any flat surface; indoors is fine with soft balls
  • Materials: Painter's tape or chalk; 5 soft balls, beanbags, or rolled socks; optional paper for the monster's face
  • Participants: 1 child; siblings can take turns
  • Supervision: Light — an adult helps set up and plays the monster's voice

Rationale & Objective

Throwing at something adds a perceptual layer to the throwing action: the child must fix their eyes on the target, judge distance, and time the release. Hitting a wall target with an overhand throw is an item in the PDMS-2 Object Manipulation subtest, and throwing a ball at a target is part of the BOT-2 Upper-Limb Coordination subtest. A large, close target keeps the success rate high — children practice far longer when they hit more often than they miss — and moving the line back only after success follows the well-supported principle of scaling the task to the child rather than expecting the child to cope with adult-sized demands (Buszard et al., 2016). Cueing the child to look at the mouth rather than think about their arm also draws on motor-learning research showing that an external focus of attention helps accuracy (Wulf, 2013).

Progress Indicators

  • Early: throws land all over the wall or fall short; looks at the ball or own hand instead of the target; hits the 1-meter monster once or not at all from 2 meters
  • Developing: eyes stay on the target; hits 2–3 of 5 from 2 meters; misses are close to the edge rather than scattered
  • Proficient: hits the 1-meter target 3 or more times out of 5 from 3 meters with an overhand throw and a step
  • Advanced: hits a smaller target (the mouth alone, or a hoop) from 3 meters; adjusts after a miss (“that was too high”); stays accurate with different balls

Safety Notes

  • Use soft balls or beanbags indoors and keep the target away from windows, shelves, and screens
  • Other children wait behind the thrower and collect only when all five have been thrown
  • Painter’s tape is kinder to walls than regular tape; outdoors use chalk on a solid wall, never a glass door
  • Repeated misses can be discouraging — if your child hits fewer than two in five, quietly move the line closer rather than urging them to try harder
  • A child who seems unable to judge where the target is, or who closes one eye or tilts the head to aim, may benefit from a vision check

Hints

  • Playfulness: give the monster a name, a voice, and a favorite food. It can beg (“I’m soooo hungry”), burp after a hit, and complain when it’s missed
  • Sustain interest: redraw the target each week — a robot, a shark, a rocket window — or stick up several paper plates worth different points
  • Common mistake: starting too far away. Accuracy grows from success at close range; a child who misses every time learns nothing except that throwing is frustrating
  • Limited space: stand an open cardboard box or laundry basket on its side on a sofa and throw from 1.5 meters — the box becomes the mouth
  • Cross-domain: write numbers or letters on paper plates and call out which one to hit (numeracy, letter recognition); keep a tally of hits and compare rounds (early data and counting)
  • Progression: 1 m target at 2 m → same target at 3 m → smaller target (50 cm) → targets at different heights → a called target chosen from several → throw after taking two steps

Sources

  • PDMS-2 Object Manipulation subtest — hitting a target with an overhand throw
  • BOT-2 Upper-Limb Coordination subtest — throwing a ball at a target
  • Ulrich, D.A. (2019), TGMD-3 — overhand throw performance criteria
  • Buszard, T. et al. (2016), “Scaling the equipment and play area in children’s sport to improve motor skill acquisition: a systematic review,” Sports Medicine
  • Wulf, G. (2013), “Attentional focus and motor learning: a review of 15 years,” International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology
  • UK EYFS Development Matters — Reception: develop confidence, competence, precision and accuracy in activities that involve a ball