By July, many classrooms feel different. The weather is warmer, routines are changing and children are starting to think about summer holidays and moving to their new classes. It’s often harder to hold attention, and there’s usually a little more energy in the room than there was back in September.
Rather than fighting against that excitement, why not use it?
Big sporting events, like the World Cup, often capture children’s imaginations, and football provides plenty of opportunities for meaningful learning across the curriculum. With a football, a bit of chalk and some outdoor space, you can keep learning purposeful while tapping into something children are already interested in.
Here are a few ideas to try.
Silent Penalty Shootout
This is a simple activity, but it works surprisingly well. Set up a penalty shootout and challenge the children to complete the whole activity in silence. No shouting, no cheering and no commentary from the sidelines. Children take turns shooting while everyone else waits quietly.
It encourages:
- patience
- turn taking
- concentration
- self-control
It’s also a lovely way to bring the energy levels down at the end of a busy day.
Flag Relay Race
Football tournaments are a great excuse to revisit geography. Place flag cards at one end of the playground or field. In teams, children race to collect a flag and bring it back to identify the country on a map. If your school has a playground map or world map display, even better.
You could also ask:
- Which continent is the country in?
- What language is spoken there?
- How far away is it from the UK?
The activity gets children moving while helping them build their knowledge of the wider world.
Loose Parts Flag Making
Using leaves, sticks, petals and stones, challenge children to recreate the flags of different countries. Some flags are surprisingly tricky and really encourage children to look closely at:
- colour
- shape
- pattern
- symmetry
The finished pieces look fantastic and often lead to discussions about countries, cultures and places children may have visited.
Goal Scoring Angles
Football and maths work together rather nicely. Use chalk to mark different shooting positions around a goal. Some could be labelled with angle measurements, while others are left blank for children to estimate. Then let them test their ideas.
Which angles make scoring easier? Does standing further away affect accuracy? Where would they choose to take a penalty from?
Instead of simply drawing angles in a book, children are using them in a real context.
Penalty Shootout Statistics
Set up a class penalty competition. Each child takes ten shots and records how many goals they score.
The results can then be turned into:
- tally charts
- pictograms
- bar charts
- percentages and averages for older children
You can even draw your data representations on the playground itself. Because the data comes from something they have just done themselves, children are usually much more invested in discussing and interpreting it.
Build a Football Pitch
Give children chalk, measuring tapes and trundle wheels and challenge them to create a scaled football pitch on the playground.
They could:
- measure the boundary lines
- calculate perimeter
- work out area
- compare the dimensions of different sections of the pitch
There’s usually lots of discussion and problem-solving as groups decide how to measure and mark everything accurately.
Stadium Turf Science
Football pitches don’t just happen. Take children onto the field and investigate what makes a good playing surface.
Younger children might explore:
- grass
- soil
- roots
- worms and insects
Older children could investigate drainage by pouring water onto different surfaces such as:
- grass
- mud
- concrete
Time how long the water takes to disappear and discuss why drainage is so important for professional football pitches.
Why Do Footballers Sweat?
After a few minutes of dribbling or running around the playground, stop and ask the children:
What has changed?
They’ll quickly notice:
- faster breathing
- warmer skin
- red faces
- sweaty foreheads
- quicker heartbeats
It’s a simple way to introduce ideas about:
- exercise
- heart rate
- body temperature
- cooling through evaporation
And because the children can feel these changes happening in their own bodies, the science tends to stick.
The final few weeks of term don’t have to mean winding down completely. Sometimes all it takes is a topical hook and a change of environment to bring learning back into focus. And if that happens to involve a football and a bit of sunshine, even better.
