The idea for Hit the Ball Duck came from a book I was reading about someone’s childhood memory of throwing a stick into a tree in order to dislodge a ball which was stuck up there. I liked the idea of throwing a bat (rather than a stick) which then also becomes stuck, then the baseball glove is used etc. It struck me as funny that one by one, everything that is needed to play the game ends up in the tree. This seemed like a very symmetrical, archetypal situation and one which I could see Duck getting into. (Of course Duck would be the one who hit the ball up in the first place).

Whilst working on this storyline a theme arose around Frog who, being the smallest, was not able to join in. When I realised that he could be the one to save the day (because of his small size) I knew I had the resolution.

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