Games for 4–6 year olds

At this age, soccer works best when it doesn’t look like soccer. Four-, five-, and six-year-olds don’t want positions or passing patterns — they want to be minnows escaping a shark, pirates raiding an island, robbers sneaking loot past the cops. Every game on this list is built on a story like that, and nearly every one keeps a ball at your kid’s feet the whole time. None of them involves standing in line, because a line is where four-year-old attention goes to nap.

Most of these games list a grown-up in the mix — that’s you, and it’s the fun kind of job. You’re the traffic light in Red Light, Green Light, the mooing target in Hit the Coach, the music in Musical Balls. Fifteen minutes in the backyard counts as a great day of soccer. And when your kid starts bossing the setup around and inventing new rules, celebrate — that’s the whole point, and the 7–9 page will be ready when they are.