Prediction Games for Kids and Families

There are not many activities where a seven-year-old can genuinely compete against their parents and grandparents on equal terms. Football prediction games are one of them. The rules are simple, no specialist knowledge is required, and the element of luck means that anyone can win any given week.

If you are looking for something that brings the family together around football - something more engaging than just watching a match but simpler than managing a full fantasy team - a prediction league is exactly right.

Why Kids Are Surprisingly Good at This

Adults overthink football predictions. They read form guides, analyse statistics, check injury news, and construct elaborate reasoning for their scoreline picks. Kids do none of that. They go with their gut, pick their favourite team to win, and choose a score that feels right.

And here is the thing: over a full season, that instinctive approach often performs as well as the analytical one. Football is chaotic enough that overthinking frequently leads you astray. Children's willingness to predict unexpected results - a 4-0 when adults are cautiously predicting 1-0, or a draw when everyone else is picking the home win - means they catch upsets that adults miss.

This is not just anecdotal. Many prediction leagues report that younger participants outperform expectations precisely because they are not constrained by the common mistakes adults make. They do not fall into the trap of always backing favourites or avoiding extreme scorelines.

Setting Up a Family League

The easiest way to run a family prediction league is through a free platform like ScoreBadger. One person sets up the league, shares the join code, and everyone submits their predictions before the deadline. The scoring is simple - 3 points for an exact score, 1 point for the correct result - so even young children can understand how it works.

For children under 8

Help them submit their predictions but let them choose the scores themselves. You might need to explain which team is home and which is away, but the actual score predictions should be entirely their choice. The sense of ownership is important.