Soccer Drills for 6 Year Olds: A Parent Practice Guide

Start with three soccer drills for 6 year olds: traffic light dribbling, gate passing and shooting through a target gate. Demonstrate and adjust each activity for your daughter or son, explaining its restart and keeping practice connected with junior soccer coaching. This guide explains how to demonstrate each activity and adjust it for home practice, even if you have never played soccer. The Giro X sells Curl Master One, intended for players from around age 8 through adulthood. I recommend getting it when your child reaches that range, alongside their coaching.

Table of contents

What Should You Check Before Choosing A Drill?

How Do You Run Traffic Light Dribbling?

How Can You Teach Passing Through A Gate?

What Should A Shooting Activity Look Like?

How Do You Bring The Activities Into A Practice Plan?

What Should You Check Before Choosing A Drill?

Choose an activity you can demonstrate, including what happens when the ball leaves the playing area. Girls and boys should receive the same careful explanation, with adjustments based on their individual experience. Ask your child to show you the action before introducing another instruction. At home, explain your role as well: perhaps you will call the traffic light signals or receive passes. In my opinion, that shared understanding gives a parent who never played soccer a useful place to start.

For dribbling, passing and shooting, gather balls and flat markers, then choose a clear playing area with room beyond the target. Run activities in sequence when space cannot accommodate separate areas. At an Australian community pitch, check permission to use the space and organise an alternative if conditions change. Keep water available and include pauses between activities. Where children share a ball, explain how they exchange roles before the first turn, so everyone knows when to join in.

How Do You Run Traffic Light Dribbling?

Start with green for dribbling and red for stopping, demonstrating both before your child begins. I suggest marking a rectangle with enough room for players to dribble separately, adjusting its boundaries to the available space and number of players. Ask players to use gentle touches on green, then stop the ball beneath a foot on red. When a ball leaves the rectangle, its player collects it and returns through a clear edge before continuing.

In traffic light dribbling, amber means stopping the ball and turning to travel in the opposite direction. Demonstrate rolling the stationary ball backwards with the sole, then turning to follow it. Let your child rehearse that movement before adding amber to the game. Partners sharing a ball can exchange dribbling and calling roles after a stop, with the caller waiting outside the rectangle. If routes repeatedly cross, expand the area or organise separate groups so players have room to move.

How Can You Teach Passing Through A Gate?

Set partners opposite each other with a gate between them, then demonstrate passing through its centre. I would start with a wide gate and partners close enough to exchange controlled passes, adjusting the arrangement to their experience. Show your child how to place the standing foot beside the ball and push it forwards with the inside of the other foot. The receiver controls the ball before returning it, with clear space behind them for collecting a missed pass.

Make gate passing easier by bringing partners closer or widening the opening. For a further challenge, change either the distance or the opening between exchanges, letting players try the new arrangement before adjusting again. A child practising with a parent can take turns choosing the gate width. For solo practice, pass through the opening, walk around the markers and collect the ball before returning from the opposite side. With an unmatched group player, join as their passing partner.

What Should A Shooting Activity Look Like?

Use a stationary ball and a clearly marked target, with a collection route outside the shooting lane. I would begin close to a wide target gate, then adjust the distance and opening to the child. Demonstrate stepping beside the ball and striking forwards with the inside of the foot. Explain where the player waits and how they collect the ball afterwards. Keep the space beyond the target separate from other activities, checking that the lane is clear before each shot.

For the shooting activity, partners exchange roles after each shot and collection, with the waiting player behind the starting point. Where space permits, organise parallel lanes facing the same direction, keeping retrieval routes outside every lane. I would ask the coach which familiar striking cue to repeat at home, then use that wording during practice. Widening the target or moving closer changes the task without adding another technical instruction. Let your daughter or son choose which arrangement to repeat.

How Do You Bring The Activities Into A Practice Plan?

Start with a demonstration, move through the activities and leave room for a finishing game. I would let the children's engagement guide each block, allowing time for explanations and water pauses. Repeat a familiar activity when the group wants another turn, or move on when they are ready for something different. When considering later practice, read Soccer Drills for 8 Year Olds alongside the coach's guidance, choosing activities according to your child's experience.

For this informal practice game, use opposite gates as goals and begin with a pair on each team, without goalkeepers or fixed positions. Explain that the conceding team restarts from the centre after a goal. When the ball leaves the area, the other team passes it in from that boundary, with opponents leaving room. An unmatched player can support whichever team has possession. At home, a parent and child can play towards opposite gates instead.

Curl Master One

From around age 8 through adulthood. Works with a standard ball. No app or subscription required.

Keep traffic light dribbling, gate passing and target shooting as your child's current practice, and plan to get Curl Master One when they reach its intended age range. In my opinion, its six speed settings make it a worthwhile choice for striking practice as your player grows. Coaching and Curl Master One can work together, with the coach providing an instruction to follow between lessons. Get one when your daughter or son reaches that stage, keeping an adult nearby for players aged 8 to 12.

Plan Their Next Soccer Stage

Choose Curl Master One for soccer practice when your child reaches its intended age range.

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