This activity has been revised and was originally created by Monica Allon, Karen Brody and Molly Campbell.
Baseball is the national pastime, and this three-dimensional game helps students who are blind or visually impaired to learn first-hand the rules of the game, while also practicing important skills. Those skills include:
- Left and right spatial orientation – moving players through the appropriate bases
- Braille – reading the scores and the hit boxes
- Hand strength – pulling the players off of the Velcro bases and pulling back on the bat
- Fine motor manipulation – putting the string for the ball onto the knob on the batting device
- Bilateral hand use – stabilizing the batting device with one hand and swinging the bat with the other
- Motor planning – determining the best angle to aim the batting device to get a hit into a box
- Active listening – to peers, as well as social interaction
- Simple math – adding scores on the score board
- Appropriate and timely turn taking
- Understanding and following directions
This game board can be made with Tri-Wall and can represent any Major League home stadium. Lessons include English Language Arts, Orientation and Mobility, Sports and Leisure, and Math.
Baseball board, a small rectangular piece of plastic to act as a bat, a ball tied to a string, four boxes with numbers located on the inside, four game pieces, and two score rings
The object of the game is for a team to have the most number of runs after each team has had nine chances to bat.
- First, players choose a team they would like to play for, either or your own home team or Visitor.
- Each player takes a turn “at bat” by pulling back on the plastic rectangle and letting it go with a force that will propel the ball, which is strung onto a knob on top of the batting device, across the field. If the ball lands on the field, but not into any of the designated boxes, the team receives an out. If the player pulls back on the bat and swings, but the ball does not move off of the batting device, the player receives a strike. Three strikes for one game piece equals an out for the team. After three outs, the next team gets a chance at bat.
- If the ball is hit into one of the boxes on the field, the player will move his/her game piece through the appropriate number of bases (as indicated by the number in the center of the box).
- If there is already a game piece on base in the field, and the player gets another hit into a box, the game piece on the field, as well as the one at bat, will move through the number of bases determined by the box in which the ball lands.
- Once a game piece has moved through all four bases, the team gets a run. The runs are marked on the score board by flipping through the numbers on the ring.
- If the ball is hit over the back wall (where the score board is located), the player gets a home run, meaning that the player at bat, and any on base, move to the home plate for a run.
- If a ball is hit and lands to the right of the first base line yellow foul pole, the ball is considered foul, and the player bats again. If the ball is hit to the left of the third base line yellow foul pole, the ball is considered foul and the player bats again.
There are no specific variations for this game.
