DIY Pom Pom Soccer Game

“Let’s play soccer!”

It really doesn’t get any simpler than this!   We put this fun game together in just minutes, yet it provided us  with an entire afternoon of giggles! We all had SO much fun and believe it or not, blowing through a straw is an important skill for kids to master. The clever use of mouth control is essential for speech development and word pronunciation. We’ve used straws before in a fun art activity with really beautiful results. Related: DIY Cup and Ball Game from Recycled Coffee Creamer Bottles

HOW TO MAKE A POM POM SOCCER GAME

• On a large piece of paper or card stock, draw a line down the center to represent the mid-field point on your soccer field.
• Next, draw a semi circle at each end of your soccer field, to represent the goal areas.
• Take a small cardboard box (a shoebox is ideal) and cut it in half. Place one half of the box at each end of the soccer field as goal nets.
• Place a pom pom (your soccer ball!)  in the center of the field.
• Each player takes a straw and blows through it to move the pom pom into their goal area.

We added some toys to our sidelines to cheer us on when we scored a goal!

This game  is fun for kids of all ages and even the grown ups playing along with us had just as much fun as my 3 year old son! You  could easily adapt this game  for more than two players. Why not  create teams of players? To add MATH to your play, keep  a tally  of how many goals have been scored. To extend the math learning opportunities, assign a different number of points to each goal depending on where the pom pom lands within the goal area. For example, you could assign double points if the pom pom hits the back of the shoebox.

So simple but so much fun!   Here are some more simple activities for kids that also use straws:

• Recycled Art: Cup Holder Structure
• Scientific Method for Kids: Gravity Experiment
• Learning about the Heart