Basketball Drills for Kids You Can Run in the Driveway
The best basketball drills for kids are short, use one ball, and end with the ball going in. Six cover nearly everything a young player needs: a stationary pound dribble, a cone weave, close-range form shooting, layups off both feet and from both sides, wall passing, and a game of beat-your-score. Ten to fifteen minutes, a few times a week, does more than an hour once a month. The trick is running the same six at every age and changing the ask, which the table below lays out at six, eight and eleven.
All of it assumes the two things that decide whether a drill works at all: the rim at the right height and a ball that fits the hands. Both are covered in the driveway setup guide, and they matter more than any drill on this page.
Before the first drill: three house rules
- One ball, sized to the kid. For most eight-to-eleven-year-olds that’s a 27.5-inch youth ball. An outdoor rubber one like the Spalding Varsity TF-150 27.5” is built for concrete. Younger and older kids need a different size; the size-by-age chart has it.
- End on a make. Whatever the last drill is, the session ends when a shot goes in. Kids remember the last ball.
- One cue per week. Pick one thing (“eyes up”, “elbow under the ball”) and say it as a rule of a game, not as a correction.
Drill 1: The pound dribble (how to teach a kid to dribble a basketball)
This is where dribbling starts. The kid stands still, knees bent, and dribbles hard with one hand so the ball comes back to the hand quickly instead of floating up to the chest. Thirty seconds on the right hand, thirty on the left, then switch.
Three cues cover nearly all of it, and you only need one at a time:
- Fingertips, not palm. The ball is pushed down by the pads of the fingers. A slapping sound means the palm is doing it.
- Ball below the waist. A high dribble is an easy steal and a lost ball on a sloped driveway.
- Eyes up. Hold up fingers and have them call out the number while dribbling. It is the oldest trick in coaching because it works.
Once the standing dribble is steady, add a crossover: two dribbles right, cross low in front of the body, two dribbles left. That’s the whole next month for a beginner.
Drill 2: The cone weave
Five cones, or five shoes, in a line down the driveway about two big steps apart. Dribble in and out of them with the outside hand, so the ball stays on the side away from the cone. Walk it first, then jog. At the end, turn and come back with the other hand.
The point is dribbling while moving and changing direction. Timing it is optional and, for some kids, the only reason they’ll do it twice.
Drill 3: Five-spot form shooting
Start one step from the rim, straight in front. One hand only, the guide hand off the ball. Make three, then move to the next spot in a small arc around the basket. Five spots, three makes each.
This is the drill that builds the shot everyone else will later try to fix, which is why distance stays short. A kid who has to heave from two hands to reach the rim isn’t form shooting. Move closer, or lower the rim.
Drill 4: Layups from both sides
From the right side: dribble in with the right hand, take off from the left foot, lay it off the backboard with the right hand. From the left side, mirror all of it. Most kids are fine on their strong side and lost on the other, and the left-side layup is where this drill earns its spot.
Start without the dribble, one step and lay it in, until the footwork is automatic. Then add one dribble, then two.
Drill 5: Wall passing
A solid wall, a chalk square at chest height, and a ball. Chest pass into the square, catch it with two hands, repeat ten times. Then bounce passes, aiming the bounce about two-thirds of the way to the wall. Use a brick or concrete wall, not a garage door.
Passing is the skill kids practice least on their own because it seems to need a second person. It doesn’t. The wall never gets tired of rebounding.
Drill 6: Beat your score
One minute, one spot, count the makes. Write the number in chalk on the driveway. Next session, beat it. It’s the ten-minute practice habit turned into a game, and the number does the motivating so you don’t have to.
Sideline observation, free: the kid who wouldn’t do five minutes of form shooting will do twenty minutes of beat-your-score and not notice they were form shooting the whole time.
The same six drills at 6, at 8, and at 11
Nothing needs replacing as they grow. Same drill, harder ask.
| Drill | At 6 | At 8 | At 11 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pound dribble | Strong hand, standing still | Both hands, eyes up, numbers called | Crossover and between-the-legs, no looking |
| Cone weave | Walk it, no timer | Jog it, outside hand | Timer, crossover at every cone |
| Form shooting | One step out, two hands is fine | One hand, five spots | Free-throw distance, then back to five spots |
| Layups | Strong side, no dribble | Both sides, one dribble | Both sides at speed, off a crossover |
| Wall passing | Chest pass, big target | Chest and bounce, smaller target | Either hand, one-hand bounce pass |
| Beat your score | Makes in a minute | Makes from one spot | Makes from three spots in rotation |
The mistake usually goes the other way: an eleven-year-old handed the six-year-old version, bored inside a week.
What a ten-minute session looks like
- Pound dribble, both hands (2 minutes)
- Cone weave, there and back (2 minutes)
- Five-spot form shooting (3 minutes)
- Layups, both sides (2 minutes)
- Beat your score (1 minute), end on a make
Wall passing swaps in for the cone weave on alternate days. That’s it. If they want to keep playing afterwards, that’s the best result a session can have, and you go inside.
Your job during all of it
Rebounder and timekeeper. Not coach. If you played, this is harder than it sounds; I know, because every instinct I have from a point guard’s career says to fix the elbow. The driveway is the one place a kid gets to shoot without someone watching critically, and protecting that is worth more than any correction.
FAQ: basketball drills for kids
What is the best basketball drill for beginners?
The stationary pound dribble, followed by close-range one-hand form shooting. Between them they cover the two skills every other drill depends on, and both work on a driveway with one ball.
How do you teach a kid to dribble a basketball?
Start standing still. Have them push the ball down with their fingertips, keep it below the waist, and look up while dribbling. Do it with both hands, then add a crossover, then dribble while walking through cones.
How long should kids practice basketball at home?
Ten to fifteen minutes is plenty for most kids under twelve, a few times a week. Short and frequent beats long and rare, and ending while they still want more is how they come back.
Can you practice basketball without a hoop?
Yes. Dribbling, the cone weave and wall passing need no hoop at all. A hoop matters for shooting and layups, and it should be set to the right height for their age.
What age should kids start basketball drills?
Simple dribbling and shooting games work from about five or six with a small ball and a low rim. Structured drills like the ones above fit best from about seven or eight, when kids can follow two-step instructions.
