In my busy schedule of raising two boys and running three businesses from home (the studio, my shop Mossy JoJo, and Kids Nation Mag), I’m always on the lookout for kids activities that are fun, but also quick and easy for me to prepare. Last year during the World Cup, I did this activity together with my kids and they absolutely loved it. Mind you, they’re not even huge soccer fans. If your kids love soccer, they’ll enjoy this activity even more!

This Painted Hand Puppet Soccer Player took us less than 5 minutes to make and provided hours of play. All the materials are quite basic, so you’ll probably already have them at home (cost and time saving – yay!).

• A willing hand
• Paint (best to use face/body paint, but I used watercolor paint and it worked just fine)
• Plastic plate to mix paints (optional)
• A small ball or a piece of paper
• Two small boxes or containers (goal posts)

I didn’t take step-by-step pictures because my kids (okay… myself included) got a little too excited, but it’s pretty self explanatory :)

Step 1
Paint the outline of a soccer player on your child’s hand (head, shirt, hands, feet). Use your child’s index finger and middle finger as the soccer player’s feet. Add face and hair for details.

Note: I used black paint for the outline, but you can use any color you like as long as it is visible enough.

Step 2
Paint the shirt using your child’s favorite color. You can also do a quick search on Google to see the color combos of different soccer team uniforms.

Step 3
If you do not have a small ball, crumple a piece of paper into the shape of a ball.

Step 4
Locate two small containers to use as goal posts and you’re ready to play!

GOAL!