Everything parents need to set up a game of French cricket, adapt the rules for under-5s, and keep the whole garden laughing from first bowl to last.
French cricket needs almost nothing: a bat, a soft ball, a patch of grass, and at least two people willing to laugh when things go sideways. The batter plants their feet, holds the bat in front of their legs, and fielders take turns bowling underarm from wherever the ball lands. If the ball strikes the batter's legs below the knee, or a fielder catches the ball on the full, the batter is out and someone new takes a turn. That is the whole game. For families with young children, that simplicity is precisely the point, and it is why French cricket has remained a staple of British garden summers for generations.
For toddlers and children under five, the rules bend a little: allow feet to move freely, bowl from a shorter distance, swap in a soft foam ball, and replace elimination with a friendly rotation so every child bats in turn. With those small adjustments, a three-year-old can join in confidently alongside older siblings, cousins, or grandparents, and the game becomes less a contest than a shared ritual of outdoor play, the kind Jaques of London has championed since 1795.
Nobody is entirely certain why it is called French cricket, and that delightful vagueness suits it perfectly. What is certain is that the game has woven itself into the fabric of British outdoor childhood for well over a century, requiring no pitch, no crease, no scoreboard, and no umpire with a contentious decision. Unlike its more formal cousin, French cricket travels easily: it fits in a beach bag, a car boot, or a corner of the garden recently cleared of bicycles.
Jaques of London, established in 1795 and the world's oldest games company, has always understood that the best outdoor games are those that invite every age in without ceremony. The same spirit that produced the Staunton chess set in 1849 and gave the world the modern rules of croquet in 1851 runs through every piece of simple, well-made equipment designed to draw families outside and away from screens.
The batter stands on a single spot, holding the bat vertically in front of their legs. Their legs, from feet to knee, are the wicket. Fielders spread out at a comfortable distance and one bowls underarm, aiming at the batter's legs. The batter tries to deflect or hit the ball away. Once the batter has played a shot, they may not move their feet. The next bowl must come from wherever the ball was fielded, which means a sharp shot behind the batter leaves them facing the wrong way and unable to turn around.
A batter is dismissed in one of two ways: the ball strikes their legs below the knee, or a fielder catches the ball cleanly before it bounces. On dismissal, the fielder responsible takes a turn to bat. There is no formal batting order, no overs, no set score, and no time limit, which makes French cricket wonderfully adaptable for an afternoon interrupted by snacks, sunscreen, or a small child who has decided to investigate a beetle. Two players is a workable minimum; eight to ten is a noisy, brilliant maximum.
A lawn of roughly six metres in diameter is ample for young children. Longer grass slows the ball helpfully, giving small batters more time to react. Bare feet on soft grass are perfectly safe and, for many toddlers, actively enjoyable, though flat-soled trainers work well too. Avoid hard or uneven surfaces where a tumble might cause a graze.
For children under five, bat weight and length matter enormously. A bat that is too long or too heavy will cause a child to swing from the shoulders with no control, leading to frustration within minutes. Look for a short, lightweight wooden bat with a handle that fits comfortably in small palms. Pair it with a large, soft foam ball rather than a hard cricket ball: the soft version moves slowly enough to track, causes no alarm on contact, and bounces gently on grass.
Browse Jaques of London's outdoor games range, including wooden bats and balls suited to young children.Why outdoor play matters from the start
The UK Chief Medical Officer recommends that children under five who are capable of walking should be physically active for at least three hours every day, spread throughout the day. Active garden games such as French cricket contribute directly to that total while also building coordination, spatial awareness, and social confidence in ways that structured exercise classes rarely replicate.
The single rule that makes French cricket tricky for very young children is the one forbidding foot movement. A three-year-old's sense of body position in space is still developing rapidly, and standing perfectly still while tracking a moving ball is genuinely hard. The simplest fix is to remove that constraint entirely: let under-5s shuffle, pivot, and reposition freely. They will naturally begin to limit their own movement as confidence and coordination grow.
Bowl from closer, perhaps two to three metres rather than five or six. Use a larger ball. Remove the concept of being out altogether, replacing it with a set number of hits before the next child bats. These are not watered-down compromises; they are sound developmental practice. Vygotsky's concept of the zone of proximal development reminds us that children learn most effectively when a challenge sits just above their current ability, supported by a more capable partner. An adult who bowls gently, celebrates every contact with the bat, and gradually introduces the standing-still rule over several sessions is doing precisely that scaffolding work.
Keep sessions short. Young children follow their interest rather than a schedule, and a game that ends while everyone is still laughing will be requested again tomorrow. One that runs twenty minutes past its natural conclusion may not be.
Bat-and-ball games ask the body and brain to work simultaneously in ways that are genuinely demanding for young children. Tracking a moving ball, adjusting grip, shifting weight, and timing a swing all require the integration of visual, motor, and spatial information. These are not trivial skills: they build the foundations of hand-eye coordination, balance, and bilateral movement that children will draw upon throughout their physical lives.
Adele Diamond's research into executive function in early childhood consistently finds that activities requiring children to hold a rule in mind whilst also performing a physical action, exactly the dual demand French cricket creates, support the development of working memory and inhibitory control. Jaak Panksepp's work on the PLAY system in the brain and Albert Pellegrini's extensive studies of active social play both point to the same conclusion: children who engage regularly in vigorous, socially embedded outdoor play show stronger self-regulation, reduced anxiety, and greater capacity for cooperative interaction.
Pellegrini and the case for active social play
Albert Pellegrini's longitudinal research found that children who engaged in more social, physical play in early childhood demonstrated better attention and social competence in subsequent school years, suggesting that informal garden games are far more than pleasant ways to pass an afternoon.
One of French cricket's underrated virtues is its natural rhythm of waiting. Every child except the batter is, technically, fielding and waiting. That contained anticipation is excellent low-stakes practice in patience and sustained attention. Kathy Hirsh-Pasek and Roberta Golinkoff, whose research into playful learning has shaped a generation of thinking about early education, argue that games with gentle social rules, clear turns, and shared goals build precisely the peer-interaction skills children need when they enter nursery and reception.
At parties or gatherings with mixed ages, seat younger children closer to the batter so they have more chance of reaching the ball. Give every child a role, even if that role is simply "Chief Ball Retriever." Celebrate fielding as enthusiastically as batting. When a child grows frustrated at not connecting with the ball, lower the bowl so it arrives slowly along the ground: that small adjustment is often enough to produce a satisfying hit and restore good spirits within seconds.
Natural wooden equipment carries developmental benefits that go beyond sentiment. The weight and grain of wood give a child genuine tactile feedback: they can feel the difference between a clean hit and a glancing edge in a way that a hollow plastic bat does not convey. That proprioceptive information helps the brain refine movement over repeated play. Wood is also durable enough to reward the rough handling of early childhood, and a well-made wooden bat will outlast many plastic alternatives by years.
For under-5s, look for a bat no longer than 45 to 50 centimetres, with a handle circumference small enough for a child's fist to close around comfortably. The blade should be relatively flat rather than deeply ridged, making it easier to make contact with a slow-moving ball. Pair it with a soft, large-diameter ball rather than a regulation cricket ball.
Explore Jaques of London's collection of wooden toys, crafted for durability and open-ended play.The lasting value of traditional games
Jaques of London has been making equipment for outdoor and traditional games since 1795, longer than any other games company in the world. The belief behind every piece, from a turned wooden skittle to a carefully balanced croquet mallet, is that well-made, simple equipment returns more play per object than anything elaborate, because it asks children to bring their imagination rather than follow a fixed electronic script.
Entirely normal. The vestibular and proprioceptive systems that allow children to balance on a fixed spot whilst also tracking a moving object and swinging a bat are still maturing well into the early school years. There is no developmental reason to enforce the no-feet-moving rule before a child is ready, and considerable reason not to: forcing it creates frustration that ends the game far sooner than relaxing it would. Simply allow free movement for now, bowl from a shorter distance, and introduce the rule gently as an optional challenge once the child is consistently making contact with the bat and asking for something harder to try.
Two is a perfectly workable number. With two players, the fielder bowls, retrieves, and bowls again, while the batter counts their hits or simply plays until ready to swap. It is a quieter, more intimate version of the game but no less satisfying, particularly for a child who finds large-group play overwhelming. The game scales beautifully: three players adds the first proper social dynamic of fielding together, and five or six produces the lively chaos that most people picture when they hear the name. Above ten players, it can become hard for young children to stay engaged during the waiting periods, so consider splitting into two simultaneous games if numbers are large.
For a two to four-year-old, look for a bat in the region of 40 to 50 centimetres in total length, light enough to be swung one-handed if needed, with a comfortable grip. A hard cricket ball is not appropriate for under-5s in an informal garden setting: the pace and weight create a genuine risk of injury, and the fear of being hit will suppress rather than encourage participation. A large foam ball, a soft rubber ball, or even a beach ball works very well and produces a slower, more trackable delivery that gives small batters time to respond. As children grow in confidence and age, a lightweight tennis ball is a natural step up.
Yes, with sensible adjustments. Use a balloon or very light foam ball rather than anything with meaningful weight or speed; shorten the bowling distance to one or two metres; play in a cleared hallway or sitting room with breakables moved well out of range; and agree before starting that any ball travelling above shoulder height is a no-ball. The balloon version is particularly effective with toddlers, because its slow, drifting movement gives children far longer to track and react, producing more successful hits and considerably more giggling. Indoors, the no-moving-feet rule also becomes easier to grasp, because children can see clearly that the space is small and movement is naturally limited.
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