For little ones who love to run around wildly, staying within the confines of your home has to be frustrating. Since going out is out of the cards for the moment, we came up with some ideas to bring the game home instead.
Here are some sporting games made home-friendly that you can set up and play with your little ones while you’re stuck at home!
1. Soccer
Source: Chuck Underwood/Pixabay
You’ll need: A ball, 2 place markers, a wide space, and at least 2 players
Soccer is the easiest sport to play at home but can also be dangerous and a little daunting to attempt when you imagine flying balls and broken vases. Don’t worry, all you have to do is clear space and put all breakable things away from the space you’re going to be playing in.
Set up your place markers, it could be anything, from water bottles to newspapers, at the two ends of the space. Let your little ones know that once the ball enters the zone of the place marker, they’ve scored a goal. Now, let the games begin!
2. Basketball
Source: Steve Johnson/Unsplash
You’ll need: A ball, 2 waste bin baskets/buckets, and at least 2 players.
If you have a small ball at home that bounces, it would do great as substitute basketball for this game. But if you don’t have that you can also use crumpled up old papers and alter the rules a little bit to count the number of papers that make it into the bin.
To add a bit more excitement to the game, you can place a boundary away from the wastebin/bucket you use as the goal. You can slowly increase the boundary length further away from the goal as they get used to the game.
3. Bowling
Source: PublicDomainPictures/Pixabay
You’ll need: A Ball, several plastic bottles, and at least 1 player
You don’t need fancy shoes and heavy bowling balls for a game of bowling at home but you will need a ball of some weight. Fill your plastic bottles with water depending on how much of a challenge you want the game to be.
Clear up some space in your house and line up your bottles on the floor at one end. On the other side of the bottles, you can create a boundary from which your little ones have to throw the ball. And just like with basketball, you can start close to the bottles and increase the distance gradually. Of course, any game is fun when you play with 2 or more players, but this game can still be played solo.
Alternatively, you can also stack the bottles on a table and throw the balls to topple the bottles instead of rolling them on the floor. To motivate your children, you can award them points based on how bottles they can topple and you can make a competition out of it if you have 2 or more kids. You can join in yourself as well!
4. Table Tennis
Source: Playo
You’ll need: A lightweight ball, 2 boards, a table, a place marker, and at least 2 players
In this variation of table tennis, you’ll be using boards instead of small rackets to hit a ball back and across the table. Place a long string, a tea towel scrunched up lengthwise will also work, in the middle of the table, square, round or rectangle, does not matter.
Next, prepare your “rackets”. You can cut out rectangles from a carton box or cardboard to create that. You’ll also need a lightweight ball, you can also use a scrunched up paper but it won’t be as bouncy. Add in 2 players and you’re good to go!
5. Floorball
Source: Meghann Feldwieser/Pixabay
You’ll need: A balloon (having more on hand is good, in case one burst), sticks/boards, 2 place markers, and at least 2 players.
Floorball is a type of floor hockey played with long sticks and plastic balls with holes. In this game, loosely inspired by floorball, you can replace the plastic balls with balloons. It’s great if you have a long stick (not too long that your little ones have to drag them along) if not, you can also use a board to move the balloon along. For the game, you can let your little ones play the roles of both a player and a goalkeeper. Mummy and daddy can join in the fun as well!
