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See the hubTeaching Your Child to Chip a Football
Skill-Building Games
How to teach a child to chip a football is mostly about breaking one habit.
Chipping is one of the harder skills to pick up at a young age, because it asks for the opposite of a normal kicking motion, a short, controlled punch under the ball rather than a full swing through it. I spent a good few evenings assuming my son just could not do it, before I realised I was watching him try to swing through the ball like every other kick he owned, which is exactly the instinct that stops a chip working. The fix is not more power. It is a shorter backswing, a still ball, and a soft, low-stakes way to practise the new motion at home.
Set the right expectation first
Chipping the Ball for Kids Is Genuinely One of the Harder Skills
Chipping the ball for kids sits near the top of the list of skills that take longest to click, and that is worth saying plainly before anyone even lines up a shot. In my experience coaching this at home it is one of the harder early techniques, because it needs a short, controlled strike instead of the fuller swing a child has already practised on every other kick.
That means the first few attempts landing flat, or not lifting at all, is not a sign anything is missing. It is exactly what happens to almost every child learning this, and the skill tends to click once the one instinct underneath it changes, though the visible improvement itself still comes in stages rather than one clean leap.
The one change that actually matters
The One Instinct to Unlearn
Every kick your child has ever taken uses the same basic shape, foot swinging all the way through the ball, leg following it out and up. A chip needs the opposite of that instinct, a short, controlled, downward-angled punch under the ball with a stopped-short follow through, rather than the longer, fuller swing-through motion that works for every other kick.
Two things change, and that is genuinely all it takes.
- 1
Non-kicking foot close and slightly behind. Not out in front, which flattens the strike and turns the chip into an ordinary pass.
- 2
Toe under, heel down, short punch. The shorter the backswing, the more the ball actually lifts, so resist the urge to wind up like a normal kick.
Practise the shape without a ball first if it helps, foot placement, short stab motion, stopping the leg early, so the new movement feels normal before a football is even involved.
How we practise it in the garden
A Soft Way to Practise a Lofted Pass for Beginners at Home
The whole chip the ball practice routine we use fits in five minutes and needs nothing beyond a rolled towel or a soft cushion laid flat on the grass, set about two steps in front of where your child is standing. Start from a ball that is already sitting still rather than moving, so the only thing changing is the strike itself, not the timing of a moving ball too.
Line up the setup steps above, then chip: ten attempts at the obstacle, resetting the ball after each go, is enough for one session. Keep the obstacle soft, low and forgiving, never anything hard, high or breakable, and let the early attempts stay close and low. Height comes later, once the short, punching strike feels automatic instead of something to think through each time.
How we researched this page
Hands-On Coaching Experience, Not One Study
This page draws on hands-on experience coaching this move with young beginners rather than a single dated study. Coaching it repeatedly shows the same pattern each time, that chipping is one of the technically harder skills for a young beginner, because the short, downward-angled punch under the ball runs against the fuller swing-through motion a child has already grooved on every other kick.
See how Our Kickabout researches its pages.
What early progress actually looks like
What It Looks Like When It Is Working
The first sign chipping is starting to click is not a clean, full lift, it is the ball beginning to hop rather than skid flat along the grass. That small change matters more than it looks, because it means the strike underneath the ball is finally landing in roughly the right place.
Treat even a short, low hop as a genuine step forward rather than waiting for a perfect lift before celebrating anything. In my experience a child gets several hopping, half-height chips before a ball properly clears an obstacle, and that gradual run-up is completely normal, not a sign of stalling.
Quick answers
Common Questions About Chipping the Ball
Why won't the ball lift when my child kicks it?
Almost always the non-kicking foot is too far in front and the strike swings all the way through, flattening it. Move the standing foot slightly behind the ball and shorten the follow-through.
What age can a child learn to chip a football?
There is no fixed age, it depends far more on how much normal kicking a child has already done than on age itself, and it is genuinely one of the harder skills to pick up early regardless.
What is a safe way to practise chipping at home?
A soft, low obstacle like a rolled towel, starting from a ball that is already still, and always checking what is behind the obstacle first, the simplest chip the ball practice you can run in a garden.
Keep going
Where to Go From Here
Three places to go next, depending on what your evening actually needs.
Want accuracy next, not just lift?
Aimed Shooting Technique Game moves from lofting the ball to placing it exactly where you want it.
Play Aimed Shooting TechniqueWorking on control before this?
Ball Mastery Toe Taps builds the close control under the feet that makes every other skill easier.
Try Ball Mastery Toe TapsTonight's five minutes
Shorter backswing, softer landing, one soft obstacle.
Ten chips over a rolled towel beats fifty full swings at nothing.