What is it about the shape of a ball?

Humanity has always adored rounded shapes . We draw stick figures with round heads.. Even things in nature .. the billow of a cloud.. even the awesomeness of a conical tornado seems beautiful.. but things such as broken glass.. sharp rocks.. they hurt .. of course there are exceptions to the rule but for the most part I find it to work that way..

It’s because psychologically and spatially he can grasp it, and manually, tactilely, he can hold it, and the sight he sees in his brain and the feelings he has in his hands go together—they match!! And by god if that ain’t pretty cool to a two year old!! Plus, it rolls places that he pushes it (something he can directly effect & control in his environment—also pretty frickin’ cool to him!!)

@NaturalMineralWater that’s rather cool… i still wonder why and what about the actual shape itself that is so fascinating… and I love the link!

@tb1570 I presume then that holding a cube doesn’t have the same effect… in so much as he can still comprehend the shape but it doesn’t do anything? Perhaps a ball seems to a 2 year old that it has life of its own? i.e. a ball keeps rolling…a cube…just stops…

reminds me of this Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium – The Cube

What is equally entertaining is how the circular portion of geometry, architecture, mechanics.. is the always the hidden genius. In architecture a lot of frames.. angled braces support the curved surface of a roller coaster.. a car’s frame and “block” supports rounded pistons which drive the crankshaft in a circular motion.. rectangular canvases probably held Giotto’s painting of a circle..

even further interesting is how, though maybe not as beautiful, angular shapes, polygonal shapes provide a supportive entity.. picture frames, the wooden border of a playground’s merry go round..

maybe I’m reading into this way too much.. but I find our psychology to be rather intriguing..

In the US we have all these toddler toys that have all kinds of brightly colored, differently shaped objects. Does your son have access to all these kinds of things, but chooses the ball consistently?

@daloon yes, my son has loads of toys and i do encourage him to paint and draw, and build and play music and count numbers and walk and spend time in the garden planting seeds, we dance, sing, tickle giggle etc….all of which he loves and is fascinated by…but still…he also comes back to the ball… hell; he has even shunned a teddy bear in order to take a ball to bed with him although this has only happened twice but still there’s a definite obsession. He is incredibly good with them too… He can throw, catch, drop kick, bounce and catch,he heads balls… holds big balls in one hand, tries to juggle, he can hit them with bats and rackets, plays hockey on the floor… yeah…he loves them!!

Hmmm. Future football star?

It might be because breasts are round. Just a thought.

I don’t know. One of my dogs is completely obscessed with balls. Heaven forbid I should move one to clean!

@daloon if i’m still fluthering by then i’ll keep you posted…

I had a triangle obbession when I was little.

@toomuchcoffee911 really? ooooh tell me more????

I’m writting a book about it, actually. I’ll mention you.

You should get him one of those man-sized hampster-balls. He could have fun… in a sphere! Of course, I only say this because this is possibly the best present anyone could dream of getting.

My son also loved balls of every size and still does. You can do stuff with them and they move when you do.

It’s also about doing things well – throwing a ball feels good so you want to do it some more. This is especially true if a parent is nearby saying “Ooh, look how far it went!” and other positive sounding things.

Hm…I am an Octagon fan. Always loved stop signs :).

@Artem And then she could fill the man-sized hamster ball with regular-sized hamster balls with regular-sized hamsters in them.

mine used to like balls because she could play with them, nothing more. her favourite shape is the triangle. Mine was the square as a child. So I guess it is something about each kid’s personality.

@fundevogel It would be so much more retro (And with less hamster-upkeep) to just fill it about halfway up with ballpit balls.

@toomuchcoffee911 cool..can i have an excerpt please?

@Artem I really want to do that now.

@lynneblundell as soon as it’s published

@toomuchcoffee911 lol x

Womb, Endless sense of the universe and existence, Birth-death cycle and its breaching into the infinite, the womb, breasts = nourishment… in mathematics it is one of the most complicated and intrinsic shapes to calculate, it’s like the zero concept..