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5 Activities To Help Your Kids Learn Perseverance

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perseverancePerseverance is a quality that every child can benefit from practicing.  After all, there are going to be challenges in life, and knowing how to persevere even amidst frustration or disappointment will be a great life skill.

Active games and sports are a fantastic way to help strengthen one’s ability to persevere.  Sports can help children learn how to push themselves physically, play despite nerves or intimidation, and keep at it regardless of winning or losing.  Even small children can practice perseverance through very simple active games.

In each of the five activities below there are variations for young children to progress through.  Start simple and help the child persevere as they learn and practice new skills.   Part of persevering is realizing that with hard work and dedication, you will develop new capabilities to cope and succeed.

As you play you can discuss the word “perseverance” and talk about how this quality can help in many arenas of life.  You (as the parent or teacher) may even like to share some ways and experiences you have persevered.  You can talk about learning something new (like cooking different types of dishes) or persevering in relationships (getting to know new friends).  Children love to hear stories about adults they look up to, and this will also give them an opportunity to open up about something new they would like to try (and might feel a bit nervous about) or tell you about an area they are having difficulty persevering in.

Some key phrases you might like to use are:

  • Persevering means we don’t give up even when it’s hard.
  • To persevere means we do not let obstacles get in the way of our goal.
  • When we persevere we enjoy the journey and do not get discouraged if it is going in a way we did not expect.

Here are the activities to help children learn perseverance:

Please note that a baseball is the perfect sized ball to use with these activities!

 

(1) Throw a small ball to yourself.

First throw the ball up and catch it.  Then try it with one hand.  Then try it with the other had.  Then try to clap after you throw the ball up, before you catch it again.  Then try to clap twice!

 

(2) Move a small ball around your body.

Take the ball in one hand and try to make a circle with it around your waist.  Then try to make a circle around your legs.  Then try to do a figure eight with the ball – around one leg, between the legs, then around the other leg.  For older children, you can try to have them drop the ball behind their back and catch it with the opposite hand (this is a bit tricky for small children who have little hands).

 

(3) Practice hitting a ball.

Try to hit the ball (when someone throws it to you) with something large, such as a tennis racket.  Then try something smaller like a cricket or baseball bat.

 

(4) Make a relay.

Try asking your child to hit a ball (with a bat), run, and then jump on a base.  For younger children, remembering three steps is a big deal.  After they practice a few times, however, they will feel proud of how they have caught onto the idea.  For older children you can make a more complicated relay race.

 

process large

 

(5) Roll the ball to someone else.

Face your child and then take three steps back.  Sit down and roll the ball to each other.  As your child learns how to aim the ball while rolling, stand up and open your legs so that the ball can be rolled through (take turns being the roller and the “goal”).  You can make a smaller “goal” for the ball – which is more tricky to get through – by standing with the feet closer together.

 

These games are very simple but can take perseverance for young children to get used to and get a handle on.  As they practice, they will feel the benefit of their hard work as the tasks get easier and they feel more confident with the various activities.

 

I learned these games and more at a bloggers’ family event put on by Baseball Queensland and Blog Power Events.  This is not a sponsored post and I received no compensation for a review on my blog.  I was very excited to learn about the opportunities for children in baseball in Australia and look forward to getting my boys involved in our local club.   Our whole family had a great time!

If you liked the activities here and think your children could grow from participating in a team sport that will contribute to their physical and mental health, you may like to check out a baseball league near you!  I was very impressed by the personality and skill of the coaches I met and look forward to seeing how baseball can help my kids develop.

 

Baseball Queensland runs programs from T-ball to Little League,
for boys and girls, from age 4 to adult, with a strict anti-bullying policy.
To get more information (and find a club near you!)
visit the Baseball Queensland Website.

 

baseballqueensland

 

 

To find more character building activities on my blog, browse through this list.

 

 

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Filed Under: Blog, Character Building Activities, Outdoor Activities Tagged With: Perseverance

About Chelsea Lee Smith

Author, certified parent educator, and mother of four with a background in Communications and Counselling, Chelsea provides resources to parents and teachers who want to incorporate personal growth into everyday moments. Follow her @momentsaday on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. rebecca at thisfineday

    July 23, 2013 at 3:29 am

    Wow, this couldn’t post couldn’t have come at a better time. My oldest girl, newly 5, just went to soccer camp for the first time this morning. She’s never played an organized sport, but was interested in soccer and thought this might be a good way to try it out. The camp is for 5-12 year olds. We had a lot of discussion in the car on the way about how it might be hard, but you still need to try and it’s fun to learn and see how you grow after a few times trying! I’m going to have to further our pep talk when I pick her up with your tips here 🙂 Thanks!

    Reply
    • Chelsea

      July 23, 2013 at 6:48 am

      Awesome Rebecca I hope she has a great experience with the camp! It’s so hard sometimes to see our children struggle but in the end it will help them grow more. And hopefully the skill of persistence in sports will carry over to other endeavors! Thanks for the comment 🙂

      Reply
  2. Kylie @ Octavia and Vicky

    July 23, 2013 at 8:30 pm

    Perseverance is such an important characteristic to develop. There is nothing sadder than a child flopping down in defeat saying, “but I caaaaan’t”. Thanks for these tips.

    Reply
    • Chelsea

      July 23, 2013 at 9:26 pm

      Ohhh yes, I have witnessed the frustration so many times. And it always reminds me to keep my own attitude in check, too!! Thanks for the comment!

      Reply
  3. Ness @ One Perfect Day

    July 23, 2013 at 10:10 pm

    These are great tips Chelsea. It can be difficult sometimes to encourage kids to keep trying but there’s nothing more wonderful than that look of pride on their face when they finally achieve their goal.

    Reply
    • Chelsea

      July 23, 2013 at 10:17 pm

      So true, Ness.

      Reply
  4. Nae adventuresathomewithmum

    July 24, 2013 at 2:31 pm

    Great post. I need to work on this with my 4 yo he is the type kylie referred to, flops & puts on the spoiled sport sad face “but I cantttt” :-/
    Thanks for those quotes to try explaining what it means aswell – that’s a great idea

    Reply
    • Chelsea

      July 24, 2013 at 3:09 pm

      I think all kids do it and go through stages – no worries, we have it here too 🙂 Hopefully little by little we can reduce the number of times though!

      Reply
  5. Nathalie Brown

    July 25, 2013 at 9:46 am

    such a critical part of learning, perseverance allows for mistakes and a keep trying attitude

    Reply
    • Chelsea

      July 25, 2013 at 11:11 am

      Love that Nathalie. Talking about mistakes being okay is definitely a point to add.

      Reply
  6. hannah @ Paint on the Ceiling

    July 26, 2013 at 12:20 pm

    I love this as it really resonates with me. It took me a long time to learn about perseverance. Now I make a big deal about persistence as I want them to benefit from it early in life . Pinning 🙂

    Reply
    • Chelsea

      July 26, 2013 at 2:03 pm

      This made me think about my own perseverance… and I actually can’t say I’m very persistent in a lot of areas – some I do fine in (like making schedules and plans over and over if they don’t work the first time LOL), others I am more likely to give up (like trying to get off dairy or gluten ha ha). So this was a good lesson for me as well 🙂 Thanks for sharing!

      Reply
  7. Ashley

    July 29, 2013 at 2:13 am

    Perseverance and motor skills! Great combo! Thanks for sharing at mom’s Library!

    Reply
    • Chelsea

      July 29, 2013 at 6:35 am

      You’re welcome – there is always an amazing collection of ideas there!

      Reply
      • Ashley

        August 1, 2013 at 3:54 am

        You were featured this week! 🙂

        Reply
  8. Debs

    July 29, 2013 at 11:15 am

    Thanks for simple, practical tips that we can try with our kids at home 🙂

    Reply
    • Chelsea

      July 29, 2013 at 12:51 pm

      You’re very welcome 🙂

      Reply
  9. Dr. Ashley

    September 4, 2013 at 12:17 am

    Great blog! I added a link to this article on my blog. What a great resource, thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  10. Ashley Wells

    December 3, 2013 at 3:28 pm

    These are best strategies to teach your child the power of goal-setting so he’ll eventually learn how to work to achieve his best.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 6 Unique Learning Activities and Mom’s Library #55 | True Aim Education & Parenting says:
    July 31, 2013 at 10:51 am

    […] Unique Learning: Teaching Perseverance […]

    Reply
  2. 100 Kids Activities To Build Character - Moments A Day says:
    November 1, 2013 at 7:40 am

    […] 20-24. Find a list of 5 active games (with variations) to teach your kids perseverance here. […]

    Reply
  3. Why Is Parenting So Hard? 3 Challenges Every Mom Faces | Womanpulse says:
    April 6, 2017 at 12:42 am

    […] After all, to overcome various tasks, we have to fail at them first. It’s essential to teach your child perseverance in the face of obstacles, so don’t become an obstacle […]

    Reply

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About the Author

Chelsea Lee Smith is an author, certified parent educator, and mother of four children with a background in Communications and Counselling. She provides resources to parents and teachers who want to incorporate personal growth into everyday moments. Browse the shop and blog categories to find practical inspiration for family life including tips, activities, printable pages, and resource recommendations.

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