Give boredom the red card! FIFA World Cup 2022 activities

November 11th 2022

About Zeena Ark Zeena was a primary curriculum school teacher for 34 years before joining Peters in 2019. She has also tried a variety of other jobs, including nannying, ICT, financial consultancy, and even managing a diet clinic on Harley Street. However, teaching was the only career to give her real job satisfaction. She is having lots of fun reading and reviewing our picture books, and is the first to get the team involved with fun activities.  MEET MORE OF OUR TEAM

Our television screens have been taken over by one of the biggest sporting events in the world: the FIFA World Cup. To get your class inspired by the beautiful game, our books for curriculum specialist Zeena has compiled some handy book recommendations, and recommended books for teachers, along with a range of activities you can use to complement the curriculum and give boredom the red card. We've even tried and tested them ourselves!

DOWNLOAD ACTIVITY IDEAS

When is the FIFA World Cup 2022 and why is it important? 

The FIFA World Cup starts on Sunday 20^th November 2022 and will end on Sunday 18^th December. This year it will be held in Qatar, and is expected to be watched by an incredible five billion people, more than half the world’s population. Taking place every four years, the major football tournament unites countries and cultures from around the world. Instilling patriotism and showing the value of teamwork and sportsmanship (who could forget Diego Maradona's 'Goal of the Century' in 1986?), the World Cup is an exciting event that encompasses a wide range of themes, from sport to the economy. 

Zeena adds: "It's a great opportunity to inspire and engage children in a range of fun activities. A variety of subjects can be covered, including English, maths, geography, history, PE, art and PSHE.”

Create your own display by getting your class to colour in stencils, write biographies and reports, make flags and pick their top football reads

Teamwork for victory

In preparation for the FIFA World Cup, Zeena recruited volunteers to help her create a football match showing the 32 countries that will be participating. Since most class sizes are 30, this can easily be replicated in schools, or adapted to suit different age groups. Each volunteer chose a country and then completed the following activities:

• Painted or coloured in the home football strip
• Chose one player from the team and wrote a short biography
• Painted or coloured the flag of the country
• Wrote a short non-chronological report on the country
• Found some interesting facts on the country, e.g. capital city, population, major historical events, geographical features such as rivers or mountains, and famous people

Children can use research and digital skills to find out key facts about their chosen country, or get creative with art materials

Here's what our team had to say! 

“I picked Denmark because I love LEGO. It’s reportedly the happiest place in the world to live, so now I want to live there! I chose Christian Eriksen as my player. He had a heart attack on the pitch whilst playing in the Premier League but has since recovered and is playing football again. He is one of my superheroes.” Jude Evans, Showroom and Buying Manager

“This is the perfect way to educate students (and teachers) on this worldwide event – particularly sport and geography – without it being too time-consuming. I found this task very fun; it made me feel engaged and involved, and I learnt some interesting facts about the country I chose.” Jess McCoy, Library Design Manager

Give your class a shared goal by working together on a fun classroom project to commemorate the historic sporting event

Discover our book lists!

Our World Cup book lists are designed for primary curriculum, EYFS/KS1, KS2 and KS3, and include fiction reads and nonfiction books for teenagers like biographies and books about football and countries.

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