Football at home for children

Playing football is an experience for sharing with team-mates, so why not enjoy it with the best team of all: your family!

Just kicking a ball around with your kids is a lot of fun.

Sometimes, though, you need to change things up and do something a little bit different so they can keep working on their technique, whether it's against the garage wall or in the house. The question is, what to do? What drills can you do without breaking anything? Well, it's pretty simple, we promise you. We've got some drills for you that are guaranteed to have everyone smiling.

Before you get started, make sure you choose somewhere where you're not going to break anything.

A new take on table tennis

Do you like playing table tennis? And do you want to improve your touch with your feet and your heading ability? Well, you can combine all that on your table tennis table.

It's pretty simple: take a foam ball, put a net up or tie a piece of string across the table and get rallying, using your feet or head only. You can only let the ball bounce once, though. You can spice things up by playing the ball on the full as well.

Show your speed of reaction and your technique to win the game.

If you want to, you can do away with a table and mark a court out with tape or use objects to mark the four corners.

And just like in table tennis you can play singles or have twice the fun by playing doubles. First to 11 wins (games must be won by two clear points). You could also play up to 21 points to allow more time for comebacks.

It's shootout time

Are you a natural born goalscorer who can't stop hitting the back of the net? You can hone those skills at home and challenge your family.

What could be easier than setting up a penalty shootout? Everyone can take part, young and old.

It's a simple and fun way to get the whole family involved. Shootouts are exciting, whether you're the one in goal or taking the kick.

The penalty taker can work on their shooting accuracy and test their ability to keep cool under pressure.

As for keepers, they can develop and improve their reflexes. Everyone's a winner!

You can have shootouts inside (in a corridor, for example) or outside. The choice is yours.

You need to have the right equipment if you're setting up a penalty shootout in the house or in the garden. We recommend a small inflatable goal (though two T-shirts will do the job) and a foam ball so no one gets injured.

The rules are simple: the penalty taker tries to score as many goals as possible in five attempts and the keeper must do their best to save them. It's one point for a goal and one point for a save. The players then swap over, with the penalty taker going in goal and the keeper trying to score from the spot. The player with more points (saves and goals) is the winner.

How about some football skittles?

Are you a skittles player who also happens to be good with your feet? If so, we've got just the activity for you.As you can probably guess, football skittles is a combination of football and skittles and a fun game for you to play with family and friends.

You can play it indoors or out.

All you need are a set of skittles (though tin cans will do just as well), a foam or soft ball and a hoop or a stick to indicate where to shoot from.

If you're playing indoors, then try somewhere like a corridor. And if you're outside, then the garden or in front of the garage is just perfect.

You should stand at least five metres away when shooting and try and knock down as many skittles as you can. It's a shooting game for the whole family to enjoy.

Just like in ten pin bowling, the person who knocks down the most skittles with one or two shots is the winner. You can spice things up by having ten rounds instead of one. May the best sharpshooter win!

Can you put the ball on a sixpence? then test your accuracy with target hoops!

Target hoops is a really fun activity for you to do with family and friends. A bit like curling but without the brush, target hoops involves kicking the ball with just enough power so that it rolls into a hoop and stays there.

The rules are very simple: the first player stands behind a line on the ground, with hoops spaced out in front of them. Some hoops are quite close and others further away. If you don't have any hoops, then you can make some yourself by cutting up some old fabric or whatever.

The player then nominates a hoop and tries to kick a foam ball into it. The further away the hoop, the more points they score if the ball rolls into it and stays there. It's a game of accuracy, touch and coolness under pressure.

It's a fun way for you to show your skills. Do you risk going for big points or do you play it safe? The player with the most points is the winner.

Looking for inspiration to keep your children occupied?

We know! We know! They're just bursting with energy. The best way to keep them occupied is to get them moving. Check out our advice on how to get them channelling all that energy into sport.

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