Kicksand
A punting game to practice kicking accuracy - uses a sand pit to prevent the ball from rolling and bouncing where it lands.
Place a number of hoops, draw rings, or place coloured markers in a sandpit. Allocate each ring a number of points depending on the size or distance of the hoop from the edge. Children stand at the edge of the sand pit, or at a flat marker a suitable distance away each with their own AFL ball - a round ball is also fine to practice punting.
Note: If your child is not yet able to achieve accuracy with punting, replace the hoops with markers/cones laid out in rows in the sandpit - if the ball lands in the first zone, you get 1 point, if the ball lands in the final zone, you get 5 points etc.
Step 1:
- When you say, "Ready, Aim, Fire!" the children all attempt to kick their ball into a hoop in the sandpit
Step 2:
- If the ball lands in a hoop, they get that number of points
- Once all children have kicked, they collect their ball and return to their kicking position
Step 3:
- Reload and kick again! See how many points you can get
- Use a soccer ball to practice the punting action without the stress of an oval shaped ball
- Start the children on the edge of the sandpit
- The children kick from further away
- Try your non-dominant kicking foot
Let children have a practice kicking before playing Kicksand. To develop punting skills, demonstrate using the following teaching cues;
- Hold the ball with your fingers on the side seams
- Laces facing forward
- Point the ball at your big toe
- Step next to marker with non-kicking foot
- Ballerina toes (point) to kick
- Reduce the competitive aspect - ensure each hoop/marker is a different colour, and children have to mix a new colour (i.e kick it in the yellow hoop, then kick it in the blue hoop to make green!)
