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See Confident BeginnersWhy Hands Are Not Allowed in Football: Two Questions a Child Can Use
Kit, Rules & Safety
Hands stay out because football is played with the feet.
A child can use the handball rule with two questions: did my hand or arm go to the ball on purpose, and was my arm sticking out so my body was bigger than it needed to be? A yes to either is handball, and Law 12 of the Laws of the Game says "Not every touch of a player's hand/arm with the ball is an offence."
For a long time I shouted "no hands!" every time the ball touched my son's arm, when half of those touches were nothing the rule cares about, and I could not have told him why.
The whole rule in two questions
Why You Can't Touch the Ball With Your Hands in Football
Football is the game where you play the ball with your feet, legs, body and head, and hands stay out of it. The goalkeeper may use their hands, but only inside their own penalty area, because the Law gives a keeper the same limits as anyone else outside it, and every player uses their hands to take a throw-in. There is no cleverer reason than that: it is how the game is defined.
That gives a child a simple handball explanation they can hold in their head during play.
The two questions. Did my hand go to the ball, or pick it up? Is my arm sticking out like a wing? A yes to either is handball.
The first question matches the Law's wording that a player "deliberately touches the ball with their hand/arm, for example moving the hand/arm towards the ball". The second matches "made their body unnaturally bigger", which the Law defines as an arm position that is not a consequence of, or justifiable by, the player's body movement for that situation.
The arm ends at the bottom of the armpit, so a ball off the shoulder is fine. England Football's 5v5 guidance lists no offside and no heading and has sideline restarts passed or dribbled in, and it lists no handball change, so the Law's wording is the one to use. Leagues and schools vary, so check locally.
Handball or not?
Handball Rule for Kids Explained: Eight Situations
Each verdict below follows the Law's wording, and the two marked "the referee decides" are cases the Law covers but leaves to the referee's judgement of what happened.
| What happens | Handball? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A child scoops the ball up in both hands to stop it. | Yes | The hand went to the ball on purpose. |
| An arm swings out and bats the ball away. | Yes | Moving the hand or arm towards the ball is the Law's own example. |
| Arms hang by the sides and the ball flies into one with no time to move. | Usually no | It is a natural position, and not every touch is an offence. |
| Arms are stretched wide like an aeroplane while blocking a shot, and the ball hits one. | Yes | The arm made the body unnaturally bigger. |
| The ball hits the shoulder. | No | The arm starts below the armpit, so the shoulder is not the arm. |
| The ball bounces off their own knee, then hits the arm. | Usually no | The Law says it is not usually an offence when the ball comes off the player's own body first. The referee decides. |
| A child falls, puts a hand on the ground and the ball hits it. | Usually no | The Law says it is not usually an offence when the arm supports the body in a fall and is not stretched out away from it. The referee decides. |
| The ball touches a hand by accident, then drops to the same player, who scores at once. | Goal disallowed | The goal rule is stricter than the general rule. |
A goalkeeper can catch the ball inside their own penalty area, so agree a keeper rule before a garden game starts. For a child who wants to use their hands in a game, the goalkeeper catching page starts them safely.
Show it, then let them try
Teaching Handball to a Young Child in Two Minutes
Agree the goalkeeper and no-hands rule before you start, the same way the simple house rules page suggests for any game. Any toss that lands, collect it and go again.
- 1
Soft ball. Use a light size 3 or foam ball, tossed underarm from about two metres.
- 2
Arms by the sides. Stand them relaxed and toss at the body. When it hits a hanging arm, ask "Was that on purpose? No. Was the arm out? No. Play on."
- 3
Arms out like wings. Hold the arms wide and toss again. Say "Now the arm is sticking out. That is the one the referee gives."
- 4
Swap. Let them throw while you get asked the two questions. Give a wrong answer first, for a laugh.
Read the wording, not the noise
What the Laws Say and Why TV Handball Looks Unfair
The Laws of the Game make two things an offence: a deliberate touch, or a touch when the hand or arm has made the body unnaturally bigger. Read Law 12 of the Laws of the Game. The FA's page carries the same wording in the 2026-27 edition. Read the FA's copy of Law 12. The Law is written for refereed matches, leaves "deliberately" and "justifiable" to the referee's judgement, and the text has no youth exception for handball.
TV can look unfair because the goal rule is stricter than the general rule. A goal scored directly from a hand or arm, or straight after the ball touches one, is disallowed even if accidental, though since 2021 an accidental handball by a team-mate before a goal is no longer an offence. Read the IFAB's 2021 handball clarification. That is a news release explaining a change, not the Law itself, and a replay cannot show what the player could see or how fast the ball came.
Law 12 also says a touch is not usually an offence when the ball reaches a hand or arm directly from the player's own head or body (including the foot). The same goes when a player falls and the hand or arm is between the body and the ground to support the body but not extended away from it. Read the falling and own-body wording in Law 12. A referee still decides each case.
The habit and the TV moment
What to Say When They Pick the Ball Up
I once shouted "hands!" across the garden at a child who had simply stopped a ball that hit his knee and bounced up. He stared at me, because he had done nothing wrong, and it took me a week to see that the rule needed two questions, not a shout.
A pick-up by habit is not misbehaviour. It is what hands do with a ball everywhere else, so put the ball back, ask the two questions and carry on rather than making it a telling-off.
"Shall we put it back and try again? Hands are for the goalkeeper and for throw-ins."
For the TV moment: "That arm was sticking out, so the referee gave it, even though it was not on purpose. Shall we try the arms-out one in the garden?"
Sometimes it does look unfair, and referees judge in a second, which is fine to say out loud. If the question came up mid-match, short bursts of watching keep it easy to talk about, and the offside page uses the same show-it-in-the-garden approach.
Quick answers
Common Questions About Handball and Children
Why can't you touch the ball with your hands in football?
Football is the game played with feet, legs, body and head, and the goalkeeper in their own penalty area may use their hands, and every player uses them to take a throw-in. Nothing more mysterious than that.
What is the handball rule in simple words?
Two questions: did the hand or arm go to the ball on purpose, and was the arm sticking out so the body was bigger than it needed to be? A yes to either is handball.
Is it handball if the ball hits my arm by accident?
Not always, because the Law says not every touch is an offence. If the arm is in a natural position for what the player was doing it is usually fine. Goals are stricter: one scored directly from a hand or arm, or straight after it touches one, is disallowed even if accidental.
Is the shoulder part of the arm for handball?
No. The Law puts the upper boundary of the arm in line with the bottom of the armpit.
Do young children's games use the handball rule?
England Football's 5v5 guidance lists no offside, no heading and passed or dribbled sideline restarts, and lists no handball change. Leagues and schools vary, so check locally, and in a garden game agree the rule together first.
Keep going
Where to Go From Here
Three places to go next, depending on what came up. Since hands are allowed for a throw-in, a four-step routine for teaching the football throw-in shows how. And for what happens when the rule is broken, yellow and red cards explained to a child has the answer.
Confused by offside as well?
One sentence and a two-minute garden demo for the other rule children ask about.
See the offside pageWatching a match together?
Short bursts of watching that keep questions easy to answer.
See the watching pageTonight's five minutes
Try the two questions in the garden tonight, arms by your sides first and then out like wings.
Two minutes, one soft ball and one grown-up who is willing to get it wrong on purpose.