5 fun cricket games to play at home with your child this summer

Looking for fun cricket games to play at home with your child? Whether you have a toddler picking up a bat for the first time, or a young child who is already loving their cricket, you don’t need a full pitch or loads of equipment to get started. There are plenty of easy cricket games for kids that you can play in your living room or garden, in fact that’s exactly where it started with our little one. 

At Cricket Kids, we coach with a play first, skills follow approach, and these cricket activities for toddlers and young children are designed to build confidence, coordination, and a love for movement in short bursts of physical activity at home.

1. Target batting game

Set up targets like buckets, nets or cushions and assign points to each one. Children hit the ball and aim for targets, you can keep score if you want to and add some friendly competition between parent and child, or siblings if you have them joining in. This is a great one for a day at the beach or park too!.

2. Bowling skittles

Use bottles or cups as stumps and knock them over.

Start with under arm throws, this game is great for throwing accuracy and early bowling skills. You can adapt this game as your child’s skill level improves, you can increase the distance between them and the “skittles” and introduce over arm throws.

3. Catch and clap

Throw or bounce the ball, clap, then catch.

We suggest starting with bouncing, it feels less daunting for children and the ball is closer to their eye level, enabling them to keep their eyes on it which ultimately results in better catching capabilities. As their confidence improves you can encourage them to throw the ball above their head and repeat the activity. You can do this with lots of things, not just balls, think scarves, beanbags, balloons!

4. Build and bowl

Create a mini obstacle course where your child has to move around or through obstacles, then throw a ball to hit a target that they’ve built at the end. For your obstacles, think household items, cushions, chairs, play tunnels, boxes! And for your target you could stack cups, or buckets. Great for energetic kids on a rainy day.

 

5. Mini cricket match

Simple parent vs child play, and siblings can join the fun. This is where you can start to introduce some of the rules of the game, fielding positions, and cricket terminology. Kids love it when they hit a 6 or a 4 and it provides plenty of opportunity for encouragement and fun! If you want to you can take it in turns batting for a set number of balls each, or introduce the concept of “getting out” to encourage swapping things up amongst players..

The best way to help your child develop a love for sport is to keep things fun, simple and pressure free. These sports games for kids at home are perfect for building early cricket skills, coordination and confidence in a way that feels like play not practice. If your child enjoys these fun home based sports activities, then they will love our sessions. 

At Cricket Kids, we offer play based cricket coaching for toddlers and children aged 2-6 years old, and help children build skills, make friends and grow in skills and confidence week on week.

Book a taster session:

www.cricket-kids.co.uk