Trash-can basketball league
Kids like a game with a score and a way to get better. In 30 minutes you set up a hoop, tape the lines and play the first night of a league you can pick up any rainy evening.
- Time
- 30 min
- Cost
- $0
- Ages
- 3 to 10
- Where
- Hallway or living room
What you need
- A laundry basket or an empty, clean trash can
- A soft foam ball, rolled socks, or a ball of scrap paper wrapped in tape
- Painter's tape for three distance lines
- Paper and a marker for the season scorecard
Before you start
- Soft balls only. Paper, socks or foam. No hard balls indoors near windows, lamps or the TV.
- Hoop against a wall, away from stairs, glass and doorways where someone might walk through.
- Shooters stay behind the line. Nobody stands near the basket while someone is shooting.
Steps
- Make the ball and the hoop. Make a paper ball wrapped in tape, or roll socks. Set the basket against a wall.
- Tape three lines. Tape lines at about three, five and seven big steps. Worth 1, 2 and 3 points.
- Say the rule once. Make it, take a step back. Miss, stay put. Five shots a turn, then switch.
- Play the first game. Take turns of five shots for about ten minutes. You shoot from one line farther back.
- Start the season scorecard. Make a scorecard with a row per player and a column per night. Tape it to the fridge.
- Finish with one trick shot each. End with one named trick shot each: eyes closed, off the wall or sitting down.
If it stalls
- If they miss over and over, move the basket closer or use a bigger one until they make a few in a row.
- If losing to you upsets them, play on the same team against a target: 20 points together beats the basket.
Points tonight · farthest line made
Signed off: can do this.Signed by Date