Whether you’re gearing up for the Super Bowl or just want to draw in your favorite sports fans, you’ll want to add these free football activities to your game plan. From reading and writing to math skills and beyond, these ideas are sure to become fan favorites. Get ready to kick off some fun!
A whole lot of science and math are hiding out behind the scenes in football. The NFL made a whole series of videos to help kids learn all about it!
Pull out the LEGO bricks and ask your kids to build their own goalposts. Once they’re made, you can use them for lots of other football activities.
Challenge your students to construct catapults from wood craft sticks and rubber bands. Set up those LEGO goalposts, then see if kids can make a field goal!
First, have kids research some statistics from a recent game. Then, use them to do the free printable word problems. Grab both pages at the link.
Financial literacy is an absolutely vital skill for kids to learn. Make it fun with this free trivia-style game from the NFL and VISA. Play on the web or download the app for iOS or Android.
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Use the special free printable dice found at the link for this game. Kids move their players down the field every time they manage to roll numbers that add up to ten.
You can use traditional dice for this football learning activity. Each player starts in their own end zone. Roll the dice and move your player down the field, counting the yards as you go. On your next turn, roll again and continue to count from the yard line where you left off. First to the other team’s end zone wins!
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Work on simple addition problems with these free printable cards that use footballs to mark ten frame spots. You get a dozen different cards for kids to tackle.
Roll the dice (you’ll need nine-sided dice for this one) and multiply the two numbers. Use the product to determine your next move according to the score sheet. Careful … some rolls will set you back ten yards!
Fill a few moments at the end of class or use this brain teaser as a bell ringer. Can you rearrange these goalposts so the football is outside by touching only two toothpicks? (The answer is at the link!)
Learning the alphabet? Name a letter and ask students to use the football to cover it up. You can also try this activity using beginning letter sounds instead.
Use these free printable cards to give kids practice matching letters with their starting sounds. This set focuses on the letters W, G, F, and M.
Here’s another football-themed matching game, this time using sight words. Get your free printable set at the link.
Use this active learning idea to help kids understand the idea of “farthest.” Kids throw a toy football onto the field to see who can throw it farthest, so they get motor skill practice too.
Kids use Montessori-style diagramming shapes to indicate the various parts of football-themed sentences. Grab your free printables at the link.
This craftivity is perfect for Super Bowl week. Students get handwriting and spelling practice as they write out their Super Bowl predictions, then color a player to display them.
Do you remember how to fold an old-school paper football? Don’t worry if you’ve forgotten. You’ll find the how-to at the link, along with instructions for playing a sight word football game.
Give little hands some fine motor skills practice with this easy-to-make felt football. All you need is felt and a shoelace!
Upcycle a cardboard cereal box into a football player puppet dressed in your favorite team’s colors. Add a paper plate “helmet,” and you’re ready to play!
Get some fine motor skill practice with this cute craft. Kids sew two halves of a paper football together with yarn, then stuff it with paper towels. The result is a fun little toy that’s (fairly) safe to toss around inside.
You can’t throw this football around, but the weaving is good training for little fingers. Learn how to make your own at the link.
How clever is this? Turn kids’ handprints into goalposts for a football keepsake parents will treasure!
Need activities for your early finishers? These free football-themed printables fit the bill. There’s a maze, word search, word scramble, coloring pages, and more.
Combine exercise with a memory game to get two football activities in one! When kids flip a matching pair, they keep the cards. If the pair is an activity card, all the players do the exercise shown.
Want to learn more about the game itself? These matching cards describe each position and show pictures of the players in action.
