Activity

Playing football

Football is often a child's first taste of a game with rules: a ball, a goal, and other people who want the same thing you do. For young children it is mostly about the body, running, kicking, falling over, and getting up again, long before it is about winning. A calm, well-made episode on this topic lets a child watch how a game works from a safe distance, and often sends them outside to try it themselves.

For 2-year-olds

At two, football is a ball and a kick, nothing more. Your child is still learning to balance on one leg long enough to swing the other, so watching someone kick and cheer is practice in itself. Look for episodes with a slow, clear picture of the ball, plenty of repetition, and simple words like kick, run and goal. Teams, rules and scoring mean nothing yet, and a busy match on screen mostly turns into noise.

S01 E13

Ready Eddie GO!

Show and Tell

Stimulating

recommended age co-watching from 2

Eddie, a young boy, learns it is his turn for show and tell at school and feels nervous about speaking in front of everyone. A friendly guiding voice walks him through it step by step: choosing his space helmet, thinking of five facts, practising at home with his mum and his toy, then giving the talk and answering his classmates' questions. When the questions pile up, he is reminded he can look to his teacher and take his time. He finishes his talk, gets a 'marshmallow clap' and says he is proud of himself.

S01 E09

Barney's World

Practice Makes Purple

Stimulating

recommended age co-watching from 2

In a bright city park, the purple dinosaur Barney and his friends Mel, David and Vivi spend the day playing soccer. Vivi decides she wants to quit because she thinks she is not good at it, so Barney invents a string of games, chasing pretend sharks, passing a bursting potato and aiming at a dragon, that are really soccer practice in disguise. When he reveals the trick, Vivi realizes she has been improving all along and happily gives soccer another try. Her grandmother Nona arrives, praises her skills, and the episode closes with a group dance and song.

S01 E03

Numberblocks

Two

Stimulating

recommended age co-watching from 2

Two arrives in the grassy Numberblocks world after One has been puzzling over a single sock and a single shoe. Two reveals a pair of dancing shoes and sings 'Everything is better with two', showing One that pairs of socks, shoes, friends, swings, bikes, and even wings work better together. The pair dance, eat, play soccer, swing, and fly through a series of song verses. The episode closes quietly with the two calling each other 'best friend' before the credits.

See all Playing football shows for 2-year-olds

For 3-year-olds

Three-year-olds start playing near other children rather than truly with them, and football is where that becomes visible. Your child can follow a short story about a game now, but taking turns and sharing the ball is still hard work. Helpful episodes show the small social moments, waiting for a pass, someone missing and trying again, rather than the excitement of a match. A gentle handling of disappointment matters more here than any of the play itself.

S01 E13

Alma's Way

Alma's New Kicks

Balanced

recommended age co-watching from 2

Alma, a young girl in a city neighborhood, needs new soccer cleats after she outgrows her old ones, and her mother gives her a fresh pair. At the park she becomes so worried about getting them dirty that she first switches back to her painful old shoes and then avoids kicking the ball, which costs her team. Her friend Rafia shows her that scuff marks are 'memories' from playing, and Alma decides to play freely. Her team scores the winning goal, and afterward she happily passes the well-worn cleats on to her little brother.

S01 E03

Jessy & Nessy

How Can We Make Fog Go Away?

Balanced

recommended age co-watching from 2

Jessy, a girl in an orange jacket, and Nessy, a purple sea monster, lose their ball in thick fog during a park football game. Curious about where the fog comes from, they try blowing it away and asking friends for help before following a smell high into the clouds. There they find a giant named Eugene cooling a pot of soup, whose steam is making the fog. After everyone helps cool the soup, the fog lifts, the ball turns up over the goal line, and Nessy learns he scored.

S01 E07

Muppet Babies: Play Date

Cup Stacking

Stimulating

recommended age co-watching from 3

In a sunny backyard, the girl Sammy stacks plastic cups with Kermit while Animal keeps asking to play soccer. When Animal's ball twice knocks the cup tower over, Kermit thinks of a way to use the ball as part of the game. Animal kicks the ball on cue and topples the cups on purpose, turning the clash into one shared game. The friends high-five and ask to do it again.

See all Playing football shows for 3-year-olds

For 4-year-olds

By four, the rules become interesting: who is on which team, what counts as a goal, what is not allowed. Your child is also starting to feel losing as something real, which can arrive as tears or a sudden refusal to keep playing. Episodes that show characters disagreeing about the rules and working it out, or losing and staying friends, give your child language for feelings they are only just meeting. Longer stories with a real plot hold their attention well at this age.

S01 E08

Bluey

Fruit Bat

Calming

recommended age co-watching from 2

Bluey doesn't want to go to bed and wishes she could be a nocturnal fruit bat instead. Her parents move her through rocket ship play, a penguin bath, a bedtime story and lights out, while Mum sits beside her and suggests she try dreaming about being a fruit bat. Bluey then dreams of meeting her dad as a fruit bat on a football field, watching him score a try. She wakes the next morning, tells Mum about her dream, and asks for toast instead of fruit salad.

S02 E11

The Berenstain Bears

Go to Camp

Calming

recommended age co-watching from 2

At Grizzly Ted's summer day camp, Sister Bear and her friend Lizzy spend their days swimming, hiking, and doing crafts, until the counselor announces an overnight sleep-out on Skull Rock. Sister secretly dreads sleeping so far from home and hides her worry until Lizzy gently draws it out of her. Together they decide to practice with a night in the backyard, and Sister succeeds. She heads to the real sleep-out feeling ready, sharing a campfire story and searching for shooting stars.

S01 E06

Pinkalicious & Peterrific

Dream Salon

Balanced

recommended age co-watching from 3

Pinkalicious visits Pinkville's new Dream Salon, where the stylist Andrea can create any hairstyle she imagines. She dreams up extra-long, sparkly hair, but it keeps getting stepped on, stuck in spaghetti and tangled during soccer and a planned family bike ride. After trying several elaborate styles, she returns to the salon and asks for her original hairstyle, deciding it is the one that fits her best. The episode closes with a short live-action visit to Ken, who builds musical instruments from everyday objects.

See all Playing football shows for 4-year-olds

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Playing football

For 2-year-olds

Ready Eddie GO!

Barney's World

Numberblocks

For 3-year-olds

Alma's Way

Jessy & Nessy

Muppet Babies: Play Date

For 4-year-olds

Bluey

The Berenstain Bears

Pinkalicious & Peterrific

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