Soccer--Inside!
By Mary Houlgate

Invitations
For each invitation, cut a circle from thick white paper. Draw and color a few pentagons to make a soccer-ball design. Then flip over the circle and write "it's Game Time! Come to our Super Indoor Soccer Party!" Write your name, classroom or location information, the time and date of the party, and "Please RSVP to" with your mail slot number.

Suit Up--Getting Ready
You'll need to do these steps ahead of time.

1. Draw the outline of a soccer player to fill a sheet of paper. Then ask a parent to photocopy it, making one for each student (plus a few extras). Glue each photocopy to a piece of thin cardboard, such as that used for cereal boxes, then cut out the players.
2. On a big sheet of paper (or a few sheets taped together), draw a large goal. Decorate the scene around it. Hang the goal on a wall for the party.
3. You'll need a large button with a metal loop fastener. String it onto a long piece of twine or yarn. Tie the ends of the twine together to make a large loop. The button should slip easily along the twine.
4. Buy a plastic whistle for each student. Tie it onto a piece of yarn or ribbon long enough to fit easily over a person's head. (If the whistles are all the same color, add a nametag to each so that students can tell them apart.)

Favor and Decorations
Decorate the party room with soccer "stuff"--green "grass" cut from construction paper and taped around the baseboards of the room or the bottom edges of the desks and chairs; uniform shirts hung around the room or from string "clotheslines" attached to the wall; pictures you've drawn to look like trophies--any decorations that you think say "soccer!" Blow up balloons (at leadt one per student) to use for decorations and in games.

Prepare bags of favors for students to take home, too. Items that work well include foil-wrapped chocolates decorated like soccer balls, colorful shoelaces, terry sweatbands, and soccer-themed stickers or pencils.

Games and Activities
"Choose Teams"
As your students arrive, give each one a soccer player cutout, felt-tip pens, and a white paper plate. Ask each student to choose a name for his or her "team" and to design and color in a uniform for the player. Have each student decorate a paper plate to look like a soccer ball.

"Shoot for the Goal!"
This is a variation of Pin the Tail on the Donkey. Blindfold student (one at a time), spin them around, and point them toward the goal you've hung up. When you shout "Shoot!" the student walks to the goal and hold his or her paper plate against the paper. The other students judge whether each "ball" has made it into the "net" or not. Have several turns each to see who scores the most goals.

"Tricky Passing"
Hand out the whistles, then have all the students sit in a circle on the floor, holding onto the big loop of twine with their fists. Start with "passing practice": slowly move the string around the circle as everyone practices passing the button from fists to fist, student to student, as smoothly and secretly as possible.

When everyone feels comfortable passing, let one student--the "referee"--stand outside the circle. The other students pass the button along the string. When the referee blows the whistle, the passing stops and he or she tries to guess where the button is. Did the ref make the tricky call? Let everyone have a turn being referee.

"Dribbling Scrimmage"
Clear an area and mark a goal at the end--perhaps the space between two chairs. Now pairs of students take their cardboard team players and inflated balloons (one each) to a line of twine placed on the floor for a starting line. Announce the team names that will be competing in the scrimmage. Then, at a whistle start, players "whoosh" their balloons along the ground toward the goal. They must not touch the balloon with the cardboard player; they can only fan it along. If the balloon is hit, the student sitting out blow their whistles and call a foul. The player has to take his or her balloon back to the starting line and try again. Whoever scores the first goal wins that scrimmage.

Refreshments
Sideline Salad
Cover a large plate with lettuce leaves and alfalfa sprouts, then throw on plenty of practice balls: cherry tomatoes, radishes, raisins, and chuncks of cheese or balls of fresh mozzarella. (Salad dressing can be available off to the side, of course!)

Practice-Field Pizzas
Make an individual cheese pizza for each student, using half of an English muffin or pita pocket. Decorate the pizzas with pepperoni slices or strips of sweet peppers to form a soccer-ball design.

Yummy "Muddy Mess"
Scoop vanilla ice cream into shallow dishes, then stud each scoop with large chocolate chips. Next, drizzle on chocolate sauce to give the look of a soccer ball after a very muddy practice!

Illustrated by Ruth J. Flanigan.