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See Confident BeginnersFootball Games for 5 Year Olds: Six Short Games for Home
Confident Beginners
In my experience, a five-year-old needs a ball, a grown-up and a few minutes, not a drill.
Pick one of the six football games for 5 year olds below, play it with a soft ball for a few minutes and stop while your child still wants another go. A game that ends well is the one that gets asked for again, which is why none of these has a score to keep or a turn to wait for.
The first game I ever set up had a score and a rule list, and my child was halfway up the climbing frame before I had finished explaining it. These six are what was left once I took both away.
Normal is short and wobbly
What Football Looks Like at This Age
Search for ideas at this age and most of what comes back is written for a coach with a group of children and a bag of cones. At home there is one of you and one of them, and a game does the same job with fewer tears, because the ball is the only thing your child needs to chase.
Normal looks like missing the ball, kicking it with the toe, wandering off after a few minutes, changing the rules and wanting to be the goalkeeper for the whole session. None of that is a problem, and none of it needs fixing tonight.
Football is only one way to fill part of a day. The NHS asks children aged 5 to 18 for an average of at least 60 minutes of moderate or vigorous activity a day across the week, and it counts playground games and cycling as well. One NHS trust's activity leaflet for parents puts chase games and football in the vigorous group.
Neither of them says how long one game should last at this age. The few minutes I suggest on this page come from what I have seen in our own garden, so treat them as a starting point you can stretch or cut, not a figure from a study.
Football activities for 5 year olds, ready to use
Six Short Games to Play Tonight
Each game needs one ball and one grown-up, and it lasts a few minutes. England Football lists a size 3 ball for its Under 8s, and at home with a five-year-old I use a soft size 3 or a lighter ball. There is no score in any of them unless your child asks for one.
Roll and Stop.
You roll the ball slowly and they stop it with their hands first, then a foot. Sit closer and roll slower to make it easier, or roll it a little to one side to make it harder. When the hands version is easy, try stopping the ball with the sole of the foot.
Big Gate Walk.
Set two trainers three of your strides apart and let them move the trainers to set the width. They walk the ball through with small taps, and you widen the gate if it is too hard or narrow it by a shoe if it is too easy. For more of the same, here is an easy first dribbling game.
Knock-Down Tower.
Stack cardboard boxes or plastic cups, and they kick or roll the ball to knock the tower over before you rebuild it together. Stand closer to make it easier, or build it taller and walk further back to make it harder. The next step is three item target shooting.
Teddy Pass.
A teddy or a sitting grown-up is the target, and they pass the ball along the ground for you to pass it back. Sit closer if it keeps missing, or try a pass each way without the ball stopping once it is easy. Later, try a simple passing game.
Two-Colour Lights.
Call green to dribble and red to stop with a foot on the ball, and add amber only once two colours are easy. Say stop instead of red to make it easier, or whisper the colour to make it harder. The three-colour version needs a ready child, so keep the traffic light dribbling game for later.
Soft Goalie.
You stand in a wide goal made of two shoes and fall over dramatically whenever they score. Make the goal very wide for an easier game, or ask them to choose a side before they kick. For an on-screen version, the garden penalty shootout has your child taking penalties against Raffie, our cartoon dog.
Choose one game, not all six, because one that ends well beats six that fade out halfway through.
Match the game to tonight
Pick Tonight's Game in Ten Seconds
Start with what you can see from the back door, which is the space you have and the mood your child is in. Find the row that matches tonight and play that game.
| Tonight is... | Play this | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A small garden with a fence behind them | Knock-Down Tower | The ball stops in the boxes, so nobody chases it over the fence. |
| A front room with a soft ball | Teddy Pass | A soft ball is gentler on a room than a hard one, but clear the floor and move anything breakable first. |
| Tired and wobbly | Roll and Stop | Sitting down counts, and it asks for very little. |
| Full of energy | Two-Colour Lights | Go and stop spends the energy inside a game. |
| Wanting to win something | Soft Goalie | They score and the grown-up loses, which suits everyone. |
| Wanting to be in charge | Big Gate Walk | They move the gate and decide how wide it is. |
None of the six needs a new ball, and whatever soft one is already in the house will do. If you are thinking of buying one anyway, see what size football suits your child and check the current price in the shop.
Stop while it is still fun
What to Say and How to Stop Well
What you say matters less than when you stop, and these two lines cover most evenings in our garden.
To offer a choice: "Shall we try one more, or save it for tomorrow?"
To praise the game: "That one went all the way through the gate."
Five signs tell you a game is done, and each one comes with an easy reply that keeps the ending a happy one.
- 1
They wander off. Let them go and leave the ball out.
- 2
They pick the ball up. Say "Shall we do a hands-only one?"
- 3
They change the rules. Say yes if it is safe. It is their game now.
- 4
They go silly. Have one last go, then finish.
- 5
They ask for a snack. That was the end. Say "Good game."
Try not to say "kick it properly" or "you're a natural", because both turn the game into a verdict on your child. Praise what happened instead, such as the ball rolling all the way through the gate or the tower coming down in one go.
For more on the words themselves, read what to say during play, and if the ending is the part that goes wrong, ending sessions without tantrums has a plan for it.
What is known and what is not
What the Research Says and Where It Stops
Read the review on movement skills in early childhood: Wick and colleagues (2017, Sports Medicine) pooled 30 trials with 6,126 children aged 2 to 6 in childcare and kindergarten. Movement programmes were linked with better ball and object-control skills.
The certainty was very low, the studies differed a lot and only 8 of the 30 were high quality. That is enough to say short, play-based practice is a reasonable thing to do with a child this age, but it does not back any one game on this page.
A smaller 2018 review of randomised trials of active play covered about 490 children across four trials, most of them of preschool age. Its authors could not draw firm conclusions. No study I found tests these six games, or a parent playing at home with one child. See how Our Kickabout researches its pages.
When it gets too easy or too much
Where This Fits
When a game with no score starts to feel too easy, the football games for 6 year olds keep the same short length and add one rule at a time, such as a count to beat.
For a younger brother or sister, the football games for 3 year olds take away even the gate and the tower, and use a big soft ball for a couple of minutes with no rules at all.
If your child has never kicked a ball with you before, football for beginners covers the very first go. A child who hangs back when anyone is watching may do better with football games for a shy child, which take the audience away.
Quick answers
Common Questions About Football Games for 5 Year Olds
What football games can I play with my 5 year old at home?
Any of the six above. Roll and Stop or Big Gate Walk are the easiest to start with, because they need almost nothing, and stop while your child still wants more.
How long should a football session last for a 5 year old?
A few minutes a game is enough in my experience, so stop while they still want another go. No official or research source gives a figure for this age. One coach's guide, quoted with the games for six-year-olds, keeps children aged 4 to 6 on each activity for 3 to 5 minutes, which is coaching advice rather than research.
Should a 5 year old be doing football drills?
In my experience a game with a ball does the same job at this age, and no source I found says a drill is needed. Cones and queues can wait until your child asks for them.
Keep going
Where to Go From Here
Three ways on from here, depending on your child and tonight's mood.
Is your child younger?
Tiny toddler games that need no rules and last two minutes.
See the 3 year old gamesDoes your child hang back?
Games with no audience and no pressure to perform.
See the shy child gamesTonight's five minutes
Start with one short game.
Pick Roll and Stop or Big Gate Walk, and stop while it is still fun.