Play-practice-play is a teaching method which utilizes gameplay to instruct players of practical soccer knowledge and skills.

Every practice is divided into three stages:

This stage starts at the moment the first player shows up and continues for 10-15 minutes after all players have arrived.

• Set up goals on either side of the practice area.
• Play coaches vs. players up to 3 players.
• With 4 or more players, divide your players into 2 teams using pinnies, adding more players as they arrive and keeping the sides balanced.
• Interrupt as little as possible to encourage improvisation and trystorming (trying and brain storming).
• Take note of what aspects of the gameplay need work.  These inform you of what you want to focus on for the practice stage.

Your players have shown you the strategies and techniques they are thinking about in a game play situation (Stage 1). Use 2-3 exercises or mini-games to work on a specific game aspect you noticed during the first stage.

• Take a moment to talk about the positive parts of their game play and what you think can be improved with your practice ideas.
• Use mini games and drills that focus specifically on the improvements you want to make (defense, playing a zone, passing, etc.).
• Before each exercise, explain its purpose and how it connects with their game play.
• After each exercise (and maybe a water break), ask your players open questions (what/where/why/how) about their thoughts on the exercise and how it relates to a game.
• There's no harm in revisiting a specific mini-game to reinforce ideas, especially if it looks like a team favorite.

This final play session gives your players a chance to plug in the ideas you focused on in the Practice stage. 

Remember: it often takes a few days for these ideas to really permeate your player's thought processes and several more rounds of play before they make their way into your player's actions on the field.

• For 6U/8U divisions, this final stage can be the 6:45-7:15 game during each meet.
• Divide your players into 2 balanced teams, bonus if these teams don't resemble the ones from the first Practice stage.
• Once again, keep your interruptions to a minimum.
• Finish up the practice by gathering your players and providing some closing remarks, team cheer, etc.

Detailed descriptions of play-practice-play theory and implementation:

https://www.mayouthsoccer.org/coaches/play-practice-play/

https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2018/02/five-things-to-know-about-playpracticeplay

Practice plans using play-practice-play:

https://www.mayouthsoccer.org/coaches/session-plans/

And a podcast:

https://www.mayouthsoccer.org/mass-youth-soccer-grassroots-podcast/