From time to time I'll share drills or practice activities which I've found to be successful... I'll mainly focus on drills for the littler kids, but I'm sure there's ways to adapt any drill to various ages.
"Monkey in the Middle" is very popular with the 6-7 year old crowd, and it is effective at teaching both defensive and passing skills in soccer and basketball. This is a great thing to do when practice isn't going that well, no one is paying attention, and you're getting frustrated.
The drill: Have all team members stand around in a circle - this works best with 6-10 kids. Designate a "monkey" to go in the middle of the circle and steal or at least alter the path of the ball as it is passed to the members in the circle. When the monkey makes a steal (or deflects the pass for younger kids), they replace the passer on the outside of the circle, and the passer becomes the new Monkey. No passes to the person right next to you on the circle, and if you throw a pass someone has to run to get, you're in the middle... If a child holds the ball too long, warn them to keep it moving, or move them into the middle.
This will seem a little chaotic, but the kids really like it. This is a great drill for stressing fakes, quick decisions, and accuracy for the passers, and defensive skills (blocking passing lanes, watching the ball, etc) for the Monkey.
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