Ball Tag

How to Play

Set up a small square of 3x3 metres.

Split the children in groups of 3. 2 are the taggers and 1 is trying to avoid being tagged.

The taggers are not allowed to run with the ball and can only tag by catching a pass close enough to the target player so they can touch them with the ball.

Balloon Blast

How to Play

Each child has a balloon.

They need to keep their balloon from touching the ground by tapping the ball into the air.

Children should be encouraged to do this while balancing on each leg, and also while on
all fours.

Crocs in the River

How to Play

Three intrepid explorers have to take the gold (the ball) from one bank of the river to the other.

But in the river there are 2 hungry crocodiles that love gold.

Explorers are not allowed to dribble or run with ball and Crocodiles can only move sideways on their line.

The kid with the ball has to track the movement of all of their teammates and the crocs and decide who is open for the pass.

The kids without the ball have to keep track of the crocs and make sure they move into an open space to receive the next pass.

Sliding Doors

How to Play

The children will work in groups of 3.

Two players stand at opposite sides of the square moving from corner to corner with their back to each other.

After a few seconds, the spare player calls the name of one of the other 2 players: this player has to try and run through the opposite end of the square without being tagged by the defender.

Rollerball

How to Play

Make a big square with cones.

All players are inside the square.

The coach throws in 4 or 5 balls and each ball has to be passed (rolled) to an available player.

First player to get 10 passes wins.

3v3

How to Play

Make 4 teams of 3.

2 Teams play 3v3 (any type of invasion game: football, basketball, rugby, etc)

The other 2 teams are waiting on the half way line.

The team that scores stays on and the next team comes on.

If no teams score after 1 minute, the team that had been on the longest goes off and a new team comes on.

If a team wins 2 in a row, they go off to give everyone a chance to play.

Four Corners

How to Play

Set up a big square with a different colour cone in each corner.

Start with one ball.

Children have to pass the ball and run to a different cone every time before coming back looking for a return pass from someone else.

Children shout out each other’s name and pass the ball to someone different each time!

First player to make 5 passes wins.

Birdie in the Middle

How to Play

Set up a circle made out 6 cones.

1 child is in the middle being “The Birdie” and another 2 stand on any of the 4 cones.

Children pass the ball between them trying to avoid the birdie stealing it.

After making a pass they have to move to one of the free/empty cones.

If 5 passes are made without an interception, the Birdie changes.

Dodgeball

How to Play

Split group into 2 teams

Set as many soft balls as possible at the halfway line (standing on flat cones).

On GO! all players try to grab a ball and hit someone on the other team.

If a player is hit, they dropout, do 5 star jumps and get back in.

Volcano Madness

How to Play

The children are on an island that’s full of volcanoes (cones)

All of a sudden the volcanoes are starting to erupt and explode!

The red team are the volcano children and are trying to keep the volcanoes burning (upright).

The blue team are the children of the sea and are trying to put the volcanoes out (turn them upside-down).

They go for 20 seconds and see which team wins.

Dribble Snap

How to Play

Place all cards face down in the playing area.

Split into 4 teams.

Each team chooses a suit from the deck.

You must dribble the ball through the cones, and lift a card in the middle.

If it matches your suit, pick up the card and dribble back. If it does not, return the card face down.

The aim of the game is to be the first team to have all four cards in your suit.

Rob the Nest

How to Play

Split the kids into groups of 4 or 5 players.

Each team has their own nest with a bunch of cones or bean bags in it (the eggs).

Each team picks a Mother Bird who will tag birds from other nests trying to steal her eggs.

When the coach says go, one player from each team tries to still an egg from any of the other nests and bring it back to theirs.

If they get tagged they have to go back to their nest and another player goes.

We play for a couple of minutes and then we count which nest has the most eggs

Save the Egg

How to Play

Split the kids into groups of 3 players.

2 teams play each other.
One of the teams is trying to make 5 passes in a row without the other team (the magpies) stealing the egg (the ball).

Every time a team completes 5 passes they get a point and the other team has to do a forfeit (star jumps, etc).

If a team steals the egg they try to get 5 passes and so on

Hungry Hippos

How to Play

Split the group into teams of two.

Each team is spaced around the outside of a circle.

In the centre of the circle (hoop), there are lots of cones, bibs and bean bags.

When the coach shouts “GO” one member of the pair should start to walk on their hands as the other member picks up their feet like a wheelbarrow.

They should wheelbarrow to the centre to pick up an item.

When they collect an item, both children run back to base.

They should then switch roles and go for the next item.

The pair with the most items wins.

Traffic Warden

How to Play

One child is a traffic warden, and they control the traffic.

When they raise the red cone, the others must balance on one leg.

When they raise the yellow cone, others must do a big star jump.

When they raise the green cone, others should move as quickly as they can, avoiding all other traffic.

Shoot the Hoop

How to Play

There are multiple hoops at different distances away from the children.

They are encouraged to throw the beanbags so they land in a hoop.

They can only throw into the hoop further away once they have scored in the hoop before.

The further away the hoop, the higher the points value. Children are to count their own scores

Make Your Own Game

How to Play

Kids will come up with the most creative games.

So give them the option to choose how they want to play.

Start with a ball , three kids in a team, three cones and two hoops, then watch their creativity come to life.

Duck and Dive

How to Play

When kids get to a green cone / spot, they must ‘duck’ and squat as low as they can.

They should then move to the next cone/spot as quickly as possible.

When they reach a red cone/spot, they need to ‘dive’ and touch their belly off the cone/spot, before quickly rising to their feet.

Children should try to duck and dive as many times as possible in 1 minute.

Each round, they should try to beat their own score.

Tag

How to Play

Mark out a playing area with your cones.

In this game, one player is ‘on’ at a time.

When someone is tagged, they become the ‘on’ player.

The aim of the players that are ‘off’ is to dodge from being caught.

Rondo

How to Play

This is a 4v2 possession game.

4 people in possession, and 2 people out of possession.

The team of four need to stand on a spot each and pass and keep possession .

The team of two should aim to block, catch and intercept whenever they can to win the ball back.

Trapdoor

How to Play

Every child is a secret agent.

Each secret agent has to dribble their ball to the North, SOuth, East and West wings of the villain’s lair.

Secret agents must look out for trap doors (Cones or flat spots).

If a secret agent’s ball touches a trap door, they must start again.

Whack-a-mole

How to Play

Each player must cover all of the holes in their garden using a tennis ball.

First to cover all of the holes, can grab the big ball and race across the finish line.

Crazy Baseball

How to Play

Split the kids into 2 teams (or 4 if you have enough space to run two games at the same time).

One team is “batting” and the other is fielding.

The batting team is going to kick/throw a spongy/tennis ball as far as possible, and the fielders have to work together to bring it back to the plate by passing it to each other.

While the fielders are doing that, the batsman tries to score as many penalties as possible against the opposition’s goalie. For every score they get a “run”.

When everyone has “batted”, change over. At the end count which team has more runs.

You can swap shooting penalties for any activity related to your sport: free throws (basketball), kicks (rugby), etc.

Traffic Light Shooting

How to Play

You have three cones: red yellow and green.

Place them 1 metre apart at increasing distances from the basket.

Start at the nearest cone and try to score. When you do, move to the next cone, and then the next.

When you score all three points, you get a point, and then start again.

Bring these activities to life by downloading our example session plans below. There are six session plans to help kids to MOVE WELL, and six session plans to help kids to PLAY WELL.

Comment below to let us know how these activities were for you in your coaching