To Anyone that can help.
Coaches: I have coached high school to college to pro for over 35 years but this Sunday, I have several 3, 4, 5 year olds and Im scared to death. I have created a dummied down program for the basics of passing dribbling and shooting however, its not enough. What I need from someone is games, games, games..basketball related games so the kids don't get bored. The baskets cannot be lowered and I am in China so I need something to compensate for that problem. Now, I have contributed to these forums hundreds of times, giving advice and helping out young coaches...Its payback time. Coach Mac p.s. its Thursday May 28th so that gives me four days to come up with something.

Here are a few ideas. I have never worked with three year olds before. I'm sure about four year olds either. But here's what I have done with kindergarten kids in a clinic setting...

First I'll point out that we didn't shoot at all. Just fundamental movement skills, dribbling, passing, catching, and maybe some pivoting or jump stops if they are capable of that.

1) Start with them on the sideline, arms length away so you have space. When I'm by myself I have a routine I use to get them locked in. I have no idea if it would work with 3 year olds.

Even better. Have small cones on the sideline. One player standing next to small cone. Put bigger cones where you want them to run to. Then you can instruct, run to the big cone and then go back to your small cone.

2) Jog forward to a line (or a big cone) and back.
3) Skip to the line and back.
4) Try go jog forward and then jog backwards.
5) Skip fowards and backwards. Not sure if 3 year olds can do this but you can try.
6) Balance on one leg for a count to 10.
7) Bear crawl to the line and then bear crawl backards.
8) Grab a ball. Stationary dribble with right hand. Try to get them to dribble with finger pads around thigh high. Good luck! If there are a lot of kids hopefully you have adults that can help. Some kids will be sitting on their ball, farting, and slapping the ball on the ground.
9) Stationary dribble with left hand.
10) Dribble with right hand to black line and then come back.
11) Stationary baby cross over
12) Cone touches. Spead cones all over the court. Players dribble and try to touch as many cones as they can. Can't touch the same cone twice in a row. 1 minute.
13) Partner passing

Be ready to adapt, throw out your plan, and just go to games. Here are a few good ones...

Triangle passing. Three players in a triangle. Count how many passes you can make in one minute.
Bull in a ring passing
Sharks and minnows
regular tag without a ball
Dribble tag
Races without a ball
Dribble relay races or just individual dribble races might be easier with kids this young

In addition to what Jeff suggested (all excellent), I could suggest tag with the ball.

I saw this from Bob Hurley and I thought it was a great way to teach passing and pivoting.

Two teams.
One team is trying to get the other out.
You can NOT throw the ball at a player. You must tag the player with the ball.
You can NOT dribble the ball. So you must pass and pivot in order to get close enough to players to tag them with the ball.

I find this drill encourages cooperation and team work. It allows them to work on passing and pivoting. May be a little too advanced for them, but I think the basics are pretty solid.

Geez Coach MAC, couldn't you pick something easier like how to run a flex offense?

Man, 3-5 y/o's will be a lot of energy going on in one room. Pretty young group of kids. I'd suggest getting a helper for sure, more than one if you can swing it.

For that age group, I like:

PICK A NAME: Even if you're doing this for just one day. Come prepared with 3 names, goofy ones. Doesn't really matter. Purple Dragons, etc... Let them vote on a name. That's their name for this session. Do a cheer. Doesn't matter what the cheer is, something loud and everyone gets to join in.

INTROS: Get the kids in a circle and have them introduce themselves to the group and tell everyone what their favorite food is to eat (including coaches).

JOKES: Find a few simple riddles or goofy jokes to tell the kids before getting into the games/drills.

CONSEQUENCES: If you do some friendly competitive drills between groups, the losers have to do air pushups and make some sort of animal sound (see GAME/DRILL 3 below).

WHAT'S IN THE BAG? I'd go to a dollar store and pick out something cheap (gum, small toy) and have a bag with enough of those for everyone. Before you start the practice or session, you tell them you have a surprise in the bag that they ALL have a chance to get BUT? They have to do two things to earn what's in the bag. 1) HAVE FUN today and 2) when you blow your whistle, they ALL have to stop what they're doing, be quiet and listen.

GAME/DRILL 1: Breaking up into two teams (coaches need to be on teams with kids). How many passes can you do in 30 seconds? Teams are in a circle and you're just counting passes.

GAME/DRILL 2: If it appears they can somewhat dribble, you can have them dribble and shout out how many fingers the coach has in the air. The coach is moving around the court and they have to follow. Or? Have them dribble following coach around the court and yell out body parts they have to touch with their non dribble hand. Nose! Ear! Belly Button! Chin!

GAME/DRILL 3: Keep away from the coach. Break into teams, form circle, coach in the middle. Kids have to make 4 good passes without the coach getting the ball. If the kids do that, the coach has to do 4 pushups. If the kids mess up and coach gets the ball, kids have to do 4 air pushups (they get on their backs and have to do 4 pushups in the air while barking like dogs!) Obviously the coach can't quite get to those passes the first two times, but on the third, he gets the ball.

GAME/DRILL 4: Who's afraid of the big bad___________? Remember that team name? If you decided on the purple dragons, you line up the kids at one end of the court with basketballs and let them try to make it to the other end. The coach is the big bad dragon in the middle. Kids make it through the first time, second time a few get the ball knocked away, etc..

GAME/DRILL 5: Musical basketballs. Divide up into similar skill level groups. If you have 6 kids in group 1, place 5 balls spread out at half court. On whistle the kids run and to grab a ball. The one who doesn't get a ball is out. Keep taking away a ball each time.

GAME/DRILL 6: Red light/green light. Going full court dribbling. Red = stop and dribble in place. Yellow means go backward. Green means go forward.

GAME/DRILL 7: Coach Mac Says: Whatever you want to do here. Kids line up, Coach Mac says, dribble the ball. Coach Mac says, bark like a dog. etc...

Jeff has some good points, have several drills on standby in case they get bored.

Good luck my friend. I see a few more grey hairs coming.

Jeff, Brian, Coach Rob: Great stuff, simply great, you have no idea how much I appreciate this site. As you can see, they don't only cater to older groups, ;there are coaches on here that can answer anything. Coach Rob..you are so right, I can teach the Flex offense with my eyes closed but this 3, 4, and 5 year old category scares me to death lol..But guys...once again you ALWAYS come through in the clutch many many thanks. Coach Mac