Ball skills: Kicking

Occupational therapy

﻿Hi, I'm really looking forward to our lesson today. I hope you are, too. Before we get started, this is just a little reminder. We're here to support any approaches you might already be using and any work you might have already been set. We know that this lesson is going to be going out to so many different children and families. So if you're not sure about anything, or have any questions, then please do contact your usual therapy team. In today's lesson, we're going to learn all about kicking and how we can control the direction that the ball's going in. I hope you have fun. Why do we need to practise kicking? Well, when we practise, our eyes and our feet work together on more tasks, and that means that we are getting stronger in different ways. When we kick, it helps us to figure out where to put our feet for more complicated tasks, such as walking through your messy bedroom floor. Sometimes, steps can be placed at different, uneven heights, and it makes it hard for us to judge where to put our feet. There are lots of games that need good skills at coordinating between our feet and our eyes. Pause the video now to get the items you're going to need. You're going to need a medium-sized or small ball. If you have a large ball, that's fine, too. Two objects that you can place, such as goalposts, such as cones, chairs, or even shoes, and a nice clear, flat wall, which you can stand about two metres away from. Resume the video when you're finished. For our first activity, with your parent or carer, I want you to make sure there's nothing near the wall. You're going to place your goalpost objects about a ruler apart, against the wall. And then you're going to stand at the same space each time and put the ball just in front of you. Now I want you to very carefully, with the side of your foot, aim and kick the ball between the goalposts. Practise with each foot. When we do kicking, we want to kick just from one line to the other. Kick. That wasn't bad. Okay. And let's see if we can go, if we go over there, can we get it to the yellow? Kick. Ah! Okay, pause the video now to have a go. Start when you're done. So, for our next activity, it's exactly the same as the first one, but this time we're going to try to kick the ball to the wall so that it comes back to you. Use the same foot each time, say five times in a row, and then you can swap. Okay? Ask your parent or your carer to time you and see how long it takes to do 10 kicks perfect. Okay. Well done. Sometimes it's a really good idea to try and kick to a wall and see if you can reach that wall. So if I'm starting here, then I do it. Boom. Yes! Okay, practise with both feet. Left foot. Use the side. Hurrah. When we want the ball to come back to us, we need to kick a bit harder, don't we? So we need to kick it. Wait for it to come back, move your body, kick it again. Wait for it. If you get a ball that's slightly slower, it gives you time to adjust yourself and get yourself into space. This is where we're doing our one leg balance, and kick. And where's it going? Follow it, move over, kick! Oh, oh, oh. Move backwards, move backwards. And stop the ball. Okay. So, we've got. Let's practise that a few times. Kick hard. Yeah. That wasn't quite right. The little bean bags were in the way, weren't they? That there, and kick hard. It's coming back, get yourself ready, and boom! It's coming, it's coming, it's coming, go get it. Oh! And it's stuck. Okay. You can also try using a much bouncier ball. Or. Okay. There we go. Oh, that's going a little askew. And. Okay, so pause the video to try kicking against the wall. Things that you can do to make it easier or harder. So to make it easier, stand closer to the wall, or move the goalposts further away from each other To make it harder, stand much further away from the wall or move the goalposts closer. Okay? Try and kick the ball so that it stays as close as possible to one of the goalposts. If you want, you can use a mat on the floor so that you keep the ball on that mat, and you can also try kicking with different sized balls. Remember, do the best for you, don't worry what your friends can do. Practise, practise, practise. But mostly, have fun. And as always, if you'd like, please ask your parents or your carer to share your work and how well you've done on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak. See you next time.

Ball skills: Kicking

Ball skills: Kicking

These resources will be removed by the end of the Spring Term 2026.

Lesson slides

Lesson details

Key learning points

Equipment

Licence

Lesson video