Tennis Snooker 🎱
Theme: "Snooker meets tennis in this fast-paced, colourful challenge of accuracy, speed, and fun!"
🎯 Objective:
Children race to collect coloured beanbags (or soft balls) from a triangle in the centre and place them into the correct “pocket” (a colour-matched bucket or hoop), learning colour matching, directional movement, and spatial awareness.
🧠 Learning Focus:
Agility, speed, direction change
Colour recognition and decision making
Control and aim
Early tennis footwork patterns
🏗 Setup:
🟥 In the centre: arrange small red traffic cones in a triangle (like red balls in snooker).
💼 Place a heap of beanbags in the middle of that triangle (use 12–20).
🟨🟩🟦🟥 Place 4 tubs, buckets, or hoops in each corner of the court/hall — each surrounded by coloured cones (e.g., green, yellow, purple, red) to match the beanbags.
🧒 Children line up at a central starting line (or divide into teams if space allows).
🎮 How to Play:
On “GO!”, children run into the centre, pick one beanbag at a time and place it on their racket, and look for the matching coloured pocket.
They run to that pocket and drop the beanbag inside, then sprint back to the centre to collect the next one.
Continue until all bags are cleared.
Count how many bags made it into the correct tubs.
⚡ Progressions (For Older Kids):
Ball Challenge – As beanbags disappear, start to add balls which are harder to balance
Catchers – Add two coaches holding catching nets as moving “pockets”. Children must throw soft balls to be caught on the move
Turn the tubs on their side (like tennis golf) and dribble balls - Add foam or inflatable balls into the central triangle. These must be rolled or dribbled (hockey style) to the matching tub.
Kids hit/ throw balls in pockets from a distance – dribble/ balance up to the marker (line of cones), then have to hit a shot or throw into the pockets; progress to backhands, serves, move pockets further and further away
Timed Round – Set a 1–2 minute timer and challenge players to collect as many as they can before time runs out.
Mistake Penalty – If a bag goes in the wrong colour tub, child must return it and try again.
🪶 Feathers (Simplified for Younger Tots):
Let children walk instead of run.
Allow parents to run alongside and guide.
Use only 2–3 colours for simpler decision-making.
Let children hold the racket in their hands rather than on racket.
Use bigger tubs/hoops to help with aiming, or ask parents to move tubs so that they easily fall in
🎄 Seasonal Variations:
🎃 Halloween – Change beanbags to “slime blobs” or “pumpkin seeds,” and buckets become cauldrons.
🎅 Christmas – Beanbags become “presents,” and tubs are chimneys or stockings.
💘 Valentine’s – Use red/pink hearts and tubs are “love letter” mailboxes.
🐣 Easter – Beanbags are “chocolate eggs,” tubs become Easter baskets.
🎨 Colour Hunt Theme – Children are “colour collectors” racing to restore rainbow colours to their correct zones.