Introduction

This is the Discovery-age doorway into the first habit the methodology defends: look before the ball arrives. The base drill asks a 10-year-old for two over-shoulder scans and a directional first touch. A 6-year-old needs the same seed planted differently — as a story.

Two treasure doors stand to the child's left and right. Treasure appears behind one of them. The only way to know which door hides the treasure is to look at both while the ball is rolling in. Then the child takes the ball through the treasure door.

The game engineers the look. No adult ever has to say "scan" — a word that means nothing at this age anyway. The story does the coaching.

Setup

   Door L (red toy)                Door R (blue toy)
        •                                •
         \                              /
          \— ~1.5 m —  [Child]  — ~1.5 m —/

                         ↑
                      ~4 m
                         ↓
                     [Roller]

Child stands facing the roller, ~4 m away.
Two doors flank the child, ~1.5 m to each side — each door is two small markers ~1 m apart (wide enough that "going through" feels generous; this age needs success to be reachable).
Roller (parent, coach, or older sibling) has the ball and a pocketful of story.
Soft, slow ground balls only. Indoors: soft ball, furniture is fine as doors.
Any space roughly 6 m × 4 m — garden, park, playground, or living room.

Description

One round:

The roller announces where the treasure is hiding while the ball is already rolling — by pointing at one door, holding up a coloured object matching a door, or calling its name ("the dragon door!").
Because the signal comes during the roll, the child must look up and across at both doors while the ball travels — looking away from the ball and back. That look is the entire point of the game.
The child receives the ball and steers it through the treasure door — one touch to receive, dribbling through is fine. Celebrate the treasure.
The roller collects, or the child dribbles back. Next round, new door.

Structure:

Rounds of 6–8 balls, then a silly break (the roller becomes a sleeping giant, the ball becomes lava — whatever keeps it play).
Magic-foot rounds: one round where only the left foot opens doors, one where only the right does. Framed as magic, never as correction.
Total: 5–8 minutes. When the giggling fades, the game is over — stop before boredom, so the child asks for it again tomorrow.
End condition per round: ball through a door = treasure found. Wrong door = "the treasure moved!" and the next ball is already rolling. There is no failing this game.

Progressions

Five levels inside the Discovery band. Each changes one variable; all of them stay a game.

Level 1 — Baseline. As described. Pointed or called signal during the roll, generous doors, slow balls.
Level 2 — Silent signal. The roller stops calling and only shows the signal (held-up colour, point). Now the look is the only channel — the ears can't rescue a child who didn't look.
Level 3 — Late signal. The signal comes later in the ball's roll, shrinking the look window. The glance must get quicker.
Level 4 — Three doors. A third door behind the child. The look now needs a real head-swivel. (Only when Levels 1–3 are easy and still fun.)
Level 5 — Sneaky signal. The roller sometimes changes the signal mid-roll ("the treasure jumped!"). One look is no longer enough — the child learns to check twice, which is the both-shoulder scan of the base drill wearing a costume.

Coach guidance

Look for

The head coming up while the ball rolls — even one glance at each door is the win at this age.
Either foot touching the ball without the child organising their whole body to avoid one foot.
Laughing. If the child is not enjoying it, change the story before you change anything technical.

Cues (story cues, not football cues)

"Where's the treasure hiding? Quick — look at both doors!"
"The doors are sneaky — check them while the ball is still rolling!"
"Magic left foot round — only the left foot can open doors!"

Praise (process, in their language)

"You looked at both doors before the ball got to you — that's exactly how treasure hunters do it."
"Brave left foot!"

Don't fix yet

The quality of the touch. At 5–8 the touch refines through volume and play, not correction.
Ball-watching in early rounds. The story pulls the eyes up over time; let it.
Anything, really, beyond keeping the game alive. This age band's anti-patterns — lectures, benching, labelling, 60-minute drilling — are all forms of fixing too much.

Watch points

Eyes stuck on the ball, never reaching the doors — make the doors louder: brighter objects, bigger gestures, the roller's own theatrical "look over there!" before they switch to silent signals.
The child always opens doors with the same foot — call a magic-foot round, framed as a spell, never as a correction.
Frustration after a wrong door — there is no wrong door: "the treasure moved!" and roll the next ball immediately. The game never stops to punish a miss.
Boredom creeping in — stop the game before the giggling fades, not after; run it again later in the session with other play between.