World Cup activities for kids: crafts, colouring pages and match day ideas

Easy activities to prepare before match day

The easiest World Cup activities are the ones you can set up in a few minutes. Keep a small basket ready with orange paper, colouring pencils, child-safe scissors, glue, stickers and printable templates. Then children can choose an activity while adults prepare snacks or watch the match.

• Print football colouring pages and let children decorate them.
• Make orange paper crowns for Dutch match days.
• Draw flags from countries playing in the tournament.
• Create a small “match day table” with crafts, snacks and crayons.

Colouring pages and drawing ideas

Colouring is perfect for toddlers and preschoolers because it keeps the World Cup theme calm and screen-free. You can use simple football shapes, flags, shirts, trophies or stadium drawings.

Simple World Cup crafts

These crafts work well for young children because they do not need to be perfect. The goal is to make match day feel festive and give children something hands-on to do.

Orange paper crown

Cut a long strip of orange paper, add triangle points on top and let children decorate it with football stickers, dots, stripes or their name. Tape or staple it to fit their head.

Paper plate football

Use a white paper plate and let children draw black football patches. Younger children can simply colour freely; older children can try to copy a real football pattern.

Flag bunting

Fold small rectangles of paper over a string and decorate them as flags. You can make Dutch flags, opponent flags or a colourful World Cup garland.

Mini cardboard goal

Use a small box or cardboard frame as a goal. Children can decorate it, then play with a soft foam ball or rolled-up socks.

Match day games for children

A full football match can feel long for young children. Small games help them join the atmosphere without needing to understand every rule.

• Match day bingo: make a bingo card with “goal”, “corner”, “whistle”, “someone cheers”, “orange shirt” and “flag”.
• Score prediction: let children guess the score before the match and draw the winning team.
• Flag match: match country names to flags or colours.
• Half-time movement: use half-time for jumping, dancing, stretching or a quick living room football game.
• Find something orange: send children on a mini scavenger hunt around the house.

Ideas for toddlers and preschoolers

For toddlers, keep activities short and sensory. For preschoolers, add a little more choice and storytelling.

A simple match day setup

If you want to keep things easy, prepare one small match day corner with:

• one colouring page,
• one craft, such as a paper crown or flag,
• one movement game for half-time,
• one orange snack plate,
• and one calm activity for children who get tired.

This keeps the World Cup fun for children, manageable for adults and easy for au pairs to organise during a normal family day.