9 fun soccer drills for kids and beginners

Are you someone wanting to learn some basic soccer skills but not sure where to start?

Here’s a list of 9 fun soccer drills that will help you develop basic soccer skills.

1. Kick to kick
2. Kick to wall
3. Zig zag dribbling
4. Passing between markers
5. Heading into an empty bucket
6. Shooting at goals
7. Playing in a practice match
8. Around the world
9. Volleying

1. Kick to kick

Skills: passing and trapping

A simple exercise of ‘kick to kick’ between two or more people will help develop passing skills, as well as learning how to trap and receive the ball.

You can start off by playing kick to kick at a short distance of 2 to 5 meters, increasing the level of difficulty by gradually increasing the distance. This is a great soccer drill for practicing passing accuracy and passing strength.

It’s common to begin passing with the instep of the foot, trapping the ball also with the instep of the foot and trying to cushion the ball when it is received.

When trapping the ball, try to cushion the ball with the instep of your foot without letting the ball travel too far away from you. Some of the best soccer players in the world are known for having a great first touch and they’ve mastered it by perfecting this basic skill.

 Tip: If you’re playing kick to kick with more than 2 people, stand in a circle and alternate who you pass the ball to. This will allow you to pass and receive the ball with both feet.

2. Kick to wall

Skills: shooting, passing and receiving

If you don’t have anyone else to play kick to kick with, you can simply use a wall instead.

Back when I was young at school, my mother would drop me off to school early on her way to work. I always brought a soccer ball with me to school because my friends would always arrive later, so I needed to keep myself occupied. Every morning at school I would kick the ball against the wall.

This simple drill really helped me develop soccer skills at a young age and practice kicking the ball with both feet.

This drill is also one of the best ways to develop soccer skills fast. Passing, receiving and positioning are all tested in this drill. The player has control over how hard the ball is kicked, where on the wall the ball will hit and where the ball will end up after bouncing off the wall.

 Tip: Alter the strength of your kick to test getting the ball under control and also try kicking the ball back first time.

3. Zig zag dribbling

Skills: Dribbling

Dribbling with the ball can be just as important as passing. Sometimes players have no option available to pass the ball to a teammate and therefore need to dribble the ball upfield. Dribbling requires skill to be able to keep the ball closely controlled when running with the ball and changing direction.

A great drill to enhance a player’s dribbling skills is to practice Zig zag dribbling. Set up 4 cones (1 meter apart) and have the player dribble through the cones, Zig zagging until they reach the end cone and then changing direction before dribbling back through the cones to the start.

 Tip: Dribble through the cones using both feet. First dribble using only the right foot, then dribble using only the left foot. This is great to practice keeping the ball close to you with both feet and not losing control of the ball.

4. Passing between markers

Skills: passing

Passing the ball between 2 markers is a great way of increasing your passing accuracy. The markers can be cones, jumpers, trees, or anything else you can think of to make a small goal (roughly 2 meters apart).

This drill simply involves passing the ball between the markers. You can increase the level of difficulty by attempting to pass on different angles through the markers.

 Tip: pass the ball with both feet.

5. Heading into an empty bucket

Skills: heading

Get someone to throw the ball to the player, slightly above head height and have them attempt to header the ball into a bucket.

This drill will teach the player how to header a ball, how to direct a header and how to time your header. It’s important to header the ball on your forehead to direct the ball.

Timing is key when heading a ball. You need to know when to start to bring your neck back and when to make contact with the ball.

 Tip: Use your neck to gain more power when you head the ball.

6. Shooting at goals

Skills: shooting

One of the best feelings you can have on the soccer field is scoring a goal. It’s a great feeling to know you were responsible for putting the ball in the back of the net for your team.

For this drill, you’ll need a goal to shoot at. You don’t need a proper soccer goal for this exercise, instead, you can use 2 cones or 2 jumpers that are a few meters apart, a fence, a wall with some tape marking a goal or even between 2 trees.

Practicing to shoot at a goal will help improve your shooting accuracy, help you get familiar with shooting the ball at goal from different angles, improve your overall shooting technique and help you generate more power in your shots.

 Tip: Have someone play as the goalkeeper to make it harder to score. When shooting at goal, aim low and shoot for the opposite corner of the goal. This way the goalkeeper will have trouble getting down quick enough to save your shot.

Oh, and there is one other thing to consider – when you score, how will you celebrate!

7. Playing in a practice match

Skills: passing, dribbling, shooting and heading

Sometimes there’s nothing better than just playing a soccer match with some friends. This can be at the local soccer ground, at school, in a park or even in the backyard.

A game should consist of an even number of players in each team. Having 4 or more players is enough to play a match and you should aim to have even numbers in both teams.

You don’t need a big soccer ground, just mark out the boundaries of your field and set up 2 goals at either end. Then you’re all set to play.

Playing a soccer match will allow you to practice your passing, dribbling, shooting and heading skills. You will also learn how to defend and attack, as well as position yourself on the field, communicate to teammates and start to understand how to read the game.

 Tip: Mix up the teams so they are equal in strength. This allows for a competitive game, resulting in all players continuing to build their skills. If you only have a few players on each team, play without Goalkeepers and just make the goals smaller.

8. Around the world

Skills: passing and shooting

Mostly known for being a game played in basketball, around the world is a fun game that tests basic passing skills to more advanced shooting skills. This game can really be played anywhere, from the backyard to inside the house.

How to play?

Firstly, you’ll need to have a goal set up. You can use a variety of objects for your goal. In the backyard, you can use a bench seat, a table or even use 2 pot plants.

Then mark out 10 spots nearby where you will be shooting at the goal from. You should go from spot number 1 being the easiest and each spot gradually getting more difficult, with finally spot number 10 being the hardest.

The aim of the game is to shoot from spot number 1 first until you score from that spot, taking it in turns with other players when you miss. If you score you move onto spot number 2, where you attempt to then score from that spot and so on.

You need to score and make your way through all 10 spots. Whoever completes spot number 10 first, has made it around the world first and wins!

 Tip: Be creative with the spots you set. Try to make spots 6-10 more difficult by including acute angles to shoot at the goal and have spots further away from the goal. Also, a great idea is to include obstacles to shoot around, under or over. This could include shooting around the clothesline, under a chair or over the barbecue.

The great thing about this game is that you can place the spots in different places each time you play, so each game and shot is different.

9. Volleying

Skills: volleying

This drill is great for developing your ability to kick the ball whilst in the air. This is known as a volley and this skill can be very helpful when playing a match.

Learning this skill will help you in many different situations in a match, where you don’t have to wait for the ball to hit the ground, but instead, make contact with the ball while it is still in the air.

A volley can be used to score a goal, make a pass or simply knock the ball upfield.

For this drill, have someone stand 1-2 meters apart from you and get them to throw the ball to you to at knee height. You can then use your instep to volley the ball back into their arms, without letting the ball bounce or touch the ground.

Once you have familiarized yourself with the basic volley, you can now attempt to volley the ball with the front of your foot, kicking the ball back with the area of the foot covered by the shoelaces.

To increase the difficulty of the drill, have the ball thrown chest height so you can chest the ball and then volley it back. You should try and do this with 2 touches and without letting the ball bounce. You can further extend the drill by chesting the ball, followed by kneeing the ball and then volleying the ball back.

 Tip: Have the ball thrown to both sides of your body, so you can practice volleying the ball back with both feet.

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