Looking for some World Cup 2026 activities for kids? We’ve got you covered.
We are a German-American family, which means the World Cup activities for kids in our house can get a bit competitive, but we also view it as a chance to cheer on more than one team. My husband Dominik is German. I’m American. Our four boys have grown up between several countries and have a love of football that goes beyond any one nation. So when the tournament kicks off, we are not a house with one flag. Some matches it will be clear who we’re all rooting for and others we are a house divided. But it adds to the fun of the matches.
Setting Up Your World Cup at Home
Setting up a bit of World Cup magic in your home can be super simple. Getting everything in place before the tournament starts helps build anticipation for our boys. We have many different printouts and posters, and each kid has a bracket. By now I think they’ve memorized the groups and schedule. But it’s not too late to print off a few pages and get started with your family!
The Wall Poster
This is our second World Cup where we’ve ordered a large wall poster of the whole tournament bracket. It keeps a permanent place on the living room wall throughout the tournament and it gets referred to often. After each match someone will write the score down to document it and we can follow teams all the way through the group stage to the final.
Our kids loved this during the last World Cup, and we already have it up on the wall. If you are looking for one, here are the two that I’ve scouted out and would recommend (ours personally has a lot of misspellings, so these look much better, and each comes in just around $10 when I last checked the links). Here is the best World Cup 2026 poster for the USA and here is the one for Germany.
Printable Brackets and Schedule
If you don’t want poster-sized brackets, I created a free printable World Cup 2026 Kickoff Pack you can print at home to use with your family. It’s everything we use:
- Family Scorecard + Bracket with simple and more complex scoring options
- Fun with Flags featuring all 48 team flags in color + black & white for coloring, cutting, learning and more
- Day-by-day tracker for friendly family competitions so everyone can see standings at a glance
We also printed the official printable FIFA schedule that we will keep on the fridge. Because why track it from one poster when you can track by group, by date, by location and so many other ways?! But our boys are in for it all and it helps to have different printables so they can each have something to read through.
Our Family Bracket Competition
My favorite family tradition for any sports tournament is a bracket competition. We do this for March Madness and other playoffs we follow as a family. The World Cup works beautifully for this because it has two distinct phases: the group stage and the knockout rounds.
While writing this out I realized it sounds more complicated than it is, so don’t feel overwhelmed. Just print the templates and adapt to your family’s interest level. It’s supposed to be fun. Our 8 and 10 year olds love the process so much that they volunteer to calculate all the math totals, which I consider a very acceptable form of summer learning.
How we keep it running day-to-day:
- Keep the scoreboard on the fridge or somewhere central so anyone can jot down winners.
- Each morning, do a 2-minute recap of the previous day’s matches and add up points together. It keeps everyone engaged, even on days you don’t watch live.
Want our custom scorecard with the whole tournament laid out? It’s included in the World Cup Kickoff Pack!
Choose your level:
Level 1: Keep It Simple (Best for kids under 8 or casual fans)
This is perfect if you want to join in without tracking scores or math.
- How to play: Before each match, everyone circles who they think will win or marks “tie.”
- Scoring: 1 point for each correct pick. That’s it.
- Winner: Most points when the tournament ends.
- For the full tournament: You’ll still need to print a fresh knockout bracket once the group stage ends, because you won’t know which 32 teams advanced until then. If you grab the World Cup Kickoff Pack, I’ll email you the final knockout bracket once teams are set.
Level 2: For Competitive Kids (Ages 8+ who love stats)
This is the version we use. Everyone predicts the exact score for each match.
Group Stage Scoring:
- 1 point for the correct outcome: win, loss, or draw
- +1 bonus point if you also get the goal difference right. Goal difference is just the winner’s score minus the loser’s score
- +1 more bonus point if you predict the exact final score
- Max per match: 3 points. With 72 group matches, the ceiling is 216 points for this stage.
Knockout Rounds Scoring:
Points double each round so the stakes get higher as you continue. Everyone starts fresh with a new bracket once the group stage ends regardless of who you originally chose to win or lose.
- Round of 32: 4 points for each correct winner
- Round of 16: 8 points for each correct winner
- Quarterfinals: 16 points for each correct winner
- Semifinals: 32 points for each correct winner
- Third place match: 16 points if correct
- Final: 64 points if correct
Why we built it this way: Points doubling means someone who was behind after the group stage can still win it all with a strong final.
Don’t forget it’s all for fun: Switch it up based on what makes sense for your family. If goal difference makes it too complicated, drop it. If your kids want to award 10 points for predicting the minute of the first goal, go for it. The whole point is to gather and cheer together.
Fun with Flags: Throwing in a Bit of Geography and Flag Knowledge
This one grew out of us realizing how many flags our kids actually know. Once the tournament started and the flags were everywhere on the poster and on screen, the boys started identifying teams by their flags before we even said the country names. That turned into pointing countries out on a map, talking about where they are, what language they speak, what the country is known for. It happens naturally and without any formal lesson involved, but it’s a great added topic to discuss while you’re organizing your brackets. This year’s Fun with Flags sheet is in the World Cup Kickoff Pack, which our 5-year-old already grabbed off the printer to color! But if you only want the flag sheet, you can grab them here.
Collect the Panini Cards
We have invested in the Panini FIFA World Cup 2026 collection this World Cup. My boys have decided to share an album and pool all their cards together. Collecting the cards has been another way my boys have learned the players across all the teams. Packs are about 2 euros here in Germany, so we use them as rewards for summer reading or finishing chores. It works surprisingly well. In the US you can grab the sticker album here, and if you’re in Germany we have the card collection here.
If your kids are sports lovers like mine, check out our gift guide for 7-10 year olds here.
How to Watch from Germany (and What to Expect)
Finding Public Viewings
Public viewings are a big deal in Germany and one of the things that surprised me most about football culture here. When there is a major tournament, outdoor screenings pop up in town squares, beer gardens, and parks. You show up, find a spot, and watch with hundreds of other people. It is one of those experiences that does not really have a direct American equivalent. It’s really not quite the same as showing up for a potluck Super Bowl party or a big sports bar turnout. To find them in Germany, search your local area for Fußball Public Viewing events, especially for Germany matches, and go at least once.
In the United States, all 11 host cities have official FIFA fan zones with big screens and viewing events. Some are available if you just show up, but others are by ticket only, even though the tickets are free. I just secured our tickets for Atlanta, which were free but not unlimited. Check out the Atlanta Fan Fest page or search your city for more options. Beyond the host cities, bars, restaurants, and community events across the country will be showing matches all tournament long.
Streaming and Time Zones
From Germany you can watch all the matches through a Magenta TV subscription, and some matches air free on ARD and ZDF. Since the games are being played in North America, most kick-off times fall in the evening German time, which is pretty ideal. FIFA deliberately scheduled Germany’s group stage matches during European primetime, so you will not be waking up at 3am for those, but if you are trying to watch the USA play live, be prepared for a middle of the night match.
In America, all games air on FOX and FS1, with Spanish-language coverage on Telemundo and Universo. Once the games are on, our kids love to have the games on in the background while life keeps moving around them. They will also start asking questions about the teams and geography throughout. By now, especially with all our printouts, our boys know the schedule and remind us to turn it on.
Making It Fun for Kids
There are plenty of ways to get kids genuinely invested in the World Cup, even if football is not usually on their radar. Here are a couple of our favorites that go beyond just watching the games.
Country Research and Team Adoption
Have each family member pick one group from the group stage to research and follow. They can own that group, find out more about those countries, and be the one to report back on those matches. It gives everyone a stake in the outcome beyond just the teams they already know, and you end up learning a lot about places that would never have come up otherwise.
Match Day Food Traditions
Making food from the countries playing or having themed match nights is a big hit in our house. No pizza this time, sorry Italy, but here are a few easy ideas to get started:
- Watch Germany play and grill up some sausages
- Watch England play and have yourself a tea party
- Watch Japan play and get some sushi takeout
- Watch Mexico play and have a taco bar
You do not need to go elaborate. Last World Cup we had a few friends over, made some themed food to share, and it turned into a full watch party without much planning. A fun excuse to gather.
Watching the World Cup from Two Countries
Personally, we split our lives between countries, having lived overseas for the past eight years. This year we are living in Germany, and for everyone except my German husband Dominik, this will be our first World Cup here. We are looking forward to celebrating with neighbors, finding a public viewing for a Germany match, and getting into the tournament spirit from this side of the Atlantic.
But we are also flying to America for our summer holidays right at the end of the group stage. We are landing in Atlanta, which is a host city, and we are going to check out the fan events and see what the atmosphere is like on the American side. We will absolutely try to get last-minute tickets if we can find them at a reasonable price. That is actually how we have ended up at other big matches in recent years. We often watch prices of secondhand ticket sales, wait for the right moment, and go for it once it’s within budget.
Follow along and we’ll be sharing updates throughout the journey.
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