You do not need to be a soccer family to enjoy everything the World Cup has to offer. While the matches themselves are exciting, some of the best World Cup activities for kids happen off the field entirely through learning opportunities about geography, food, or language—and even a little friendly competition. Whether your child is glued to every match or has never watched a full soccer game before, these ideas make the tournament something the whole family can enjoy together.
Here are 15 activities for kids related to the World Cup that turn the tournament into a season of global learning and family fun.
1. Country Passport
Give each child a small notebook or homemade booklet to use as their own World Cup passport. Every time a new country plays, they add a page with a flag, a fact, or a drawing. By the end of the tournament, they’ll have a keepsake filled with everywhere their family “traveled” without ever leaving home.
Try this with your au pair: Ask your au pair to help fill in a page about their home country, with details only someone who grew up there would know.
2. Flag Bingo
Print out bingo cards using flags instead of numbers and call out countries as their matches come on. You’ll keep your younger children engaged during matches and sneak in some geography practice at the same time.
Try this with your au pair: Have your au pair join the game and share which flag belongs to their country, along with what the colors or symbols represent.
3. World Map Challenge
Pull out a world map or globe and challenge your child or children to find each competing country as quickly as possible. For an added challenge, time each round and see if they can beat their own record as the tournament goes on.
Try this with your au pair: Ask your au pair to point out their home country and any neighboring countries they’ve visited or want to visit.
4. International Snack Tasting
Pick a few simple snacks from countries participating in the World Cup and set up a mini taste test before a match. This easy, low-prep activity can introduce new flavors to your children and start conversations about food from around the world.
Try this with your au pair: Invite your au pair to introduce a favorite snack or dish from home and share why it’s a family staple where they grew up.
5. Learn Greetings in Different Languages
Choose one new greeting or simple phrase of the competing World Cup team(s) to learn before each match. Saying “hello” or “good luck” in another language is a small, fun way for children to feel more connected to the teams they’re cheering for.
Try this with your au pair: Your au pair can teach a few real, everyday phrases in their native language, along with how they’re actually used in conversation.
6. Family Bracket
Print a simple World Cup bracket and have each family member fill in their predictions before the knockout rounds begin. Update it together after each match and see who ends up with the most accurate picks by the final.
Try this with your au pair: Have your au pair make their own predictions and explain which teams they’re rooting for and why.
7. Team Jersey Craft
Let your children design and decorate a paper or fabric jersey for their favorite World Cup team, complete with colors, a number, and a made-up player name. This hands-on activity works well during halftime or on non-match days.
Try this with your au pair: Ask your au pair to help design a jersey inspired by their home country’s team colors or flag.
8. World Cup Trivia Night
Put together a short trivia round with questions about flags, countries, and fun facts from the tournament. Keep score across the whole competition and crown a family trivia champion once the final match wraps up.
Try this with your au pair: Your au pair can contribute a few trivia questions of their own, especially about their home country or region.
9. Backyard Penalty Kicks
Set up a mini penalty shootout using cones, chalk, or a couple of chairs as makeshift goalposts. Let everyone take a turn—the youngest children and the adults—and keep a running family scoreboard throughout the World Cup.
Try this with your au pair: Ask your au pair if penalty shootouts or backyard soccer games were part of their own childhood, and have them join in.
10. Design a Chant or Cheer
For another interactive, creative World Cup activity, have the children invent their own family chant or cheer to shout during big moments in a match. It can be silly, rhyming, or inspired by a real chant they’ve seen fans use.
Try this with your au pair: Ask your au pair to teach a chant or cheer that’s popular among fans back home.
11. Country Research Project
Assign each family member a country to “adopt” for the tournament and have them come back with three interesting facts to share before that country’s first match to turn passive viewing into a small research activity the kids can feel proud of.
Try this with your au pair: Have your au pair share what they already know about the country your child is researching, or research a country together.
12. Mini Stadium Craft
Using a shoebox or cardboard, have your children build a miniature stadium complete with a paper field, stick-figure players, and tiny flags around the edges. This World Cup activity for kids is fun at any time, but especially for a rainy-day project between matches.
Try this with your au pair: Ask your au pair what stadiums or watch parties look like in their home country, and try to recreate a detail or two.
13. World Cup Scrapbook
Keep a running family scrapbook throughout the tournament with drawings, snack wrappers, or printed photos from match nights. It becomes a keepsake the whole family can look back on long after the final whistle blows.
Try this with your au pair: Invite your au pair to add a page about their own World Cup memories or favorite moments from the tournament.
14. Global Music Playlist
Build a family playlist featuring a song from each competing country and add to it as the tournament progresses. Play it during meals, car rides, or as a soundtrack to your other activities. If you want to build out a deeper weekly routine around music, food, and more for a single country at a time, our Celebrate the World Cup Without Leaving Home blog post walks through exactly how to do it.
Try this with your au pair: Ask your au pair to add a favorite song from home to the playlist and explain what makes it special.
15. Time Zone Challenge
For this World Cup activity, choose an upcoming match and have children figure out what time it’s being played in the host city compared to a competing team’s home country. You’ll sneak in some math and geography, and it helps kids understand just how far some of these teams have traveled to play.
Try this with your au pair: Ask your au pair what time it would be right now back home, and compare it to your own family’s schedule.
If your family is looking for even more ways to turn match day into a full celebration, our Family Game Night: Bring the World Cup Home blog post has plenty of additional ideas to try together.
Invite Global Learning Into Family Life
These World Cup crafts and activities are a great reminder that global learning does not require a plane ticket or a soccer jersey. All it takes is a little curiosity and a willingness to explore the world together as a family.
If your family enjoyed bringing these World Cup activities for kids into your home, there is a way to keep that curiosity going well beyond the tournament. Hosting an au pair invites another culture, language, and perspective into your everyday life, giving your children an ongoing, real connection to the wider world.
