Kids will work up a sweat shooting, kicking and running with balls in these games from Andy Parker, director of youth development for the National Alliance for Youth Sports (nays.org).

Make It and Take It
Place some beanbags beneath a basketball hoop. Have the kids line up at a shooting spot and one at a time shoot the ball for a basket. If a basket is made, the child quickly retrieves the ball, passes it to the next person in line and moves a beanbag to a specified collection spot. If the basket is missed, the beanbag stays put. The goal: to get as many beanbags as possible to the collection spot during a set time period. Play another round to try to top the previous score.

Freeze Tag Soccer
Define a small playing area with boundaries. Give each child except one a soccer ball. The child without the ball is “It” and has to chase the other players, trying to touch their soccer ball. If she succeeds, the tagged child must lift his ball over his head, spread his legs to make a goal space and freeze. Then one of the other players must kick his soccer ball through the frozen player’s legs to unfreeze him. The unfrozen player becomes It, and the game resumes.

Safety Ball
Mark a start line and a finish line in an open space with at least seven kids. Designate two kids as taggers. Have the other players (runners) begin at the start line, at least two with footballs. When you say “go,” runners head for the finish line; taggers try to tag them. Ball holders can’t be tagged—but also can’t run (or walk), so runners have to pass the footballs back and forth to keep each other “safe.” The object of the game is to get all the runners to the finish line without being tagged.