Coaching tools › Activities › Dribbling and 1v1
Free activity · Intramural curriculum, ages 4–8Cone Colors
Cones in two colors scattered around the grid. Players dribble; when you call a number they dribble to a cone of that color and stop the ball with their foot, never the same cone twice in a row. Looking up, with a reason.
Setup
Scatter 8 to 12 cones around the grid, half one color and half another. One color is Number 1, the other is Number 2. Players dribble around; when you call a number they dribble to a cone of that color and stop the ball with their foot. One rule: never the same cone twice in a row.
- Keep the ball close.
- Stop it fast.
Make it easier or harder
- Easier: Call the color instead of the number.
- Harder: Say nothing: hold a cone in the air. Players have to look up, spot the color, and go.
Coach’s notes
- If It's Chaos: Everyone racing to one cone? Put out more cones than players and remind them: a different cone every time.
- Mix It Up: Change speeds between calls, or add toe touches on the ball while they wait at a cone.
Why it works
Every version of this game asks the same thing: head up while the ball is moving. Calling a number instead of a color adds one small piece of thinking, and holding the cone in the air instead of calling anything adds another.
Put out more cones than players. The moment two children race for one cone the game stops being about dribbling.
Where it sits
This activity is from Pre-K · Week 2 · Speeds & Brakes in the Full Season Intramural Curriculum for Pre-K to 2nd grade. Every session in the book has the same shape: arrival play, Soccer Island, two or three activities and the game, with two coaching points a day, an easier and a harder version of everything, and a fix for when it turns to chaos.
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The Full Season Intramural Curriculum covers Pre-K, Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade: one page per session, nothing to memorize, built so a professional trainer and a parent who volunteered last week run the same quality session. 112 animated videos included.