DIY Mini Football Table for Kids

Reuse of shoebox

Have you ever thought about using a shoebox differently? Often these types of boxes go to waste or ends up creating volume inside our cabinets, but they can be used for various purpose, including this mini football table for kids.

Football is an excellent activity for kids! Playing with mini format kickers is even more fun and that too if you have made it by yourself with kids.

Here are few instructions which can be easily implemented with kids. I made this with the material at home, you can do decoration of your choice.

Supply list for mini football table

1. Shoe Box
2. 12 Straw (buy this here).
3. Clothespin (buy this here)
4. Utility knife (buy this here)
5. Marker (buy this here)
6. Ruler 
7. Wrapping Paper/decoration of your choice (buy this here)
8. Ping Pong Ball (buy this here)

Step 1: Start by drawing the goals on the short sides of the box. Make it large enough for the ping pong ball to pass through, but not overly wide either. Otherwise, it is of course very easy to score. Carefully cut out the goals with a knife.

Step 2: Then mark six dots on each long side, depending on the size of the box, you ensure that there is the same amount of space between each dot, for example, six centimetres. In terms of height, the dots should be slightly above the centre of the box. The first one from the goal may be about 2 to 3 centimetres from the side because that’s where the keeper comes.

Step 3: Now carefully make a hole at the location of each dot by first making a cross with the knife and then inserting the scissors a bit and turning it carefully. Tip: then use a somewhat thicker ballpoint pen; insert it and turn it around until it is a smooth hole. You do this for all dots on both sides.

Step 4: Now it’s time to decorate the box. As I was having this beautiful wrapping paper, I covered it with this. You can decorate it with any of your choices. Make sure you keep the goals clear. Now again make the hole properly.

Step 5: Now you make the sticks for the box. Each team gets its colour, so you make three sticks of one colour and three of the other. Grab a straw and insert enough skewers to fill the straw in diameter (I was not having skewers that time) Make sure you put half of the skewer in the straw – over the other half of the skewer you slide another straw of the same colour. This way you get along and tightly connected stick where the pegs will arrive later. In total, you make six sticks.

Step 6: Pass the sticks through the shoebox from one long side to the other. Make sure that the sticks are alternately coloured in the box. Then it is time to hang the pegs, or the players, on the sticks. Each team has five players: on the first stick from the goal comes the keeper (one peg) and you hang two on the other sticks. All players in position? Ping-pong ball in the field and kick-off. You can still decorate the goals with the colours of the team so that it is clear who should score where. Colour the players(peg) in the team colour, for example, you can see I have coloured it with Green and blue colours.

It is indeed a great way to spend quality and fun time with kids you have around. If you have kids who are football crazy, you can help them make this awesome, mini football field fit for two players. My kids love it, not because they can play football with each other, but because that helped me in making it.

Related post : https://messymom.co/2021/11/30-funny-childrens-books/

Keeping Kids involved in activities are tough, here is how you can take their help in the kitchen in making these Fruit Popsicle: https://www.messymom.co/post/fresh-fruits-popsicles

Picture credit: My daughter