entertaining games for kids

Vahmurka

Vahmurka

...and I get all da rolls
Silver Member
Hi pal instructors,

recently I started to work with a group of kids, 9-10 years old, to introduce them to the world of pool. From my past experience I know which basic drills to give them and how to correct their fundamentals. But the knowledge lacking is any games to keep our practice funny and entertaining. You know those youngsters are not like adults who know their goals, their motives and are ready to work hard and shoot drills over and over. Kids need more fun, perhaps with an element of competition, rather than routine practice. That will keep them interested.
As soon as they are capable of running two or three balls it's time to turn to official games, but now... Could you advise me of any games/gaming drills I could offer to absolute beginners, especially now when some of them still find troubles holding the cue and hitting the center of the cue ball? :)
 
I got the kids at the boys club here playing 3ball 2years ago and they loved it... The version where you can shoot them in any order.... We put a 7 shot max limit on a turn so things stayed pretty fast paced....
 
thanks for the idea. But what is "7 shot max limit on a turn"?

So far, as they are not able to aim and pocket object balls properly like I mentioned, I came up with cue ball contest only. Everybody takes part in turn, play one table length, two tables, then pocket the cue ball cross-side, cross-corner, table cross-corner...
So I was looking for something similar until they are skilled enough to play with 3 object balls.
 
OK I got the 9-10 year old part and missed that some of them are just now learning to hold the cue.....

I could see several things.... Kids like to make games out of everything...

Create a game where U show them a short clip of a professional pool player's stroke... go over it and talk about the different things you see and ask them what they see...Then have them work on imitating the pro's stroke at the table. Have them work with each other and yourself and then at the end of the class have them all demonstrate their version and have the class vote on which one of them does it the best..... You could have them work on it at home as well and tell them you will revote next week. You can have a reward you hand out to the winner maybe a badge they can wear that says "Future Pro"... This would let them work on the dance steps so to speak without the worry of the results of where the cueball is going......

The cueball pocketing drill is one of the games they teach young players.... With several tho it will lose it's luster so you might alter it and use a point system... 5 shots and 1 point for a straight in, 2 for a bank 1 rail, 3 for a 2 railer, and 4 for a 3 railer..... Kids like to watch the balls bounce of multiple rails and I think you will be surprised by how many of them take to trying them once you show them the track.....

Another drill is speed related... You can use the diamond but I like using pairs of chalk... Set up 6 sets of chalk equally spaced down the table along the center line.... Leave enough room to be able to hit the end rail and bounce back without having to be very accurate.....

Place the cueball between the first pair of chalks... Now have the child roll 2 6 sided dice... The number they get will be how far they have to hit the cueball... Lets say they roll a 2 as long as the ball is between the first set where they started and doesn't pass the 3rd set they will get a point... For 7 and up they have to hit the end rail and come back... You can play the game to whatever number you want depending on the number of kids......... You can also handicap the very beginners and they only roll 1 die....

As far as 3 ball.... When they get to that point... Let them take ball in hand on every shot after the break.... The limit is 7 shots so the break is 1 and each try counts as a point... After 7 the turn is over....
 
thanks again for your attention. Speed drill is what I'm about to introduce them. The majority has already faced "the gate" drill, the only difference is I use balls instead of chalk cubes.
Rolling a dice to pick the speed required to perform a task is a great idea! That is exactly what I was looking for when opened the thread. It brings fun and gaming spirit, so it turns an ordinary drill into a funny competition. I even came up with advanced variation right now: I could have numbered zones and see how big the margin of error is, i.e. cb stops at 4 when the task was 6, so it is "minus 2". Same is rolling to the 6 instead of 4, etc. Gona be cool :)
 
For young children first starting, I would have them play a game of pool without the cueball.

If the point is holding the cue, stance and stroke, just let them refine that by striking the balls into the pockets directly.

They are going to stay interested if they are successful at putting their ball down. Why make it more complicated for them?
 
I've got a group of young "new" players and I encourage them to play "cut-throat" where they get to be #1-5, 6-10 or 11-15. The real way is to KEEP your balls on the table - shoot and make anything and continue to shoot. They can also play to make their 5 and win.

I like it because I can pop in to a group and join and show them a fairly strong run of balls without worrying about a lot of stategy - just ball pocketing!
 
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