Toddlers and Ice Skating

[Smirnov2Chistov]

I was wondering if any parents could help with advice: To those who have toddlers, or younger kids - how did you get your kids skating?

My little guy is 3 and it was his first time on skates this past weekend. First things first - he enjoyed himself! Couldn't get him off the whole hour and a half at our local rink. He also enjoyed 'falling' (me holding onto his snow pants letting him down gently), and walking back and forth on the benches.

Since my wife picked up ice skating rather quickly during the holidays, she wanted our son to pick up the hobby too. Learn to skate is a tad pricey where we are ($250 for 8-10 weeks). So we will most likely just skate once a week during a public skate session on the weekends. I felt like he understood some of the concepts while skating, but constantly lost his balance lol.

 

[HansonBro]

I was wondering if any parents could help with advice: To those who have toddlers, or younger kids - how did you get your kids skating?

My little guy is 3 and it was his first time on skates this past weekend. First things first - he enjoyed himself! Couldn't get him off the whole hour and a half at our local rink. He also enjoyed 'falling' (me holding onto his snow pants letting him down gently), and walking back and forth on the benches.

Since my wife picked up ice skating rather quickly during the holidays, she wanted our son to pick up the hobby too. Learn to skate is a tad pricey where we are ($250 for 8-10 weeks). So we will most likely just skate once a week during a public skate session on the weekends. I felt like he understood some of the concepts while skating, but constantly lost his balance lol.

I learned to "skate" on bob skates first. You know the skates with the 4 mini blades?

I really dont remember transitioning to regular skates but i know its common now to use a walker designed for kids learning to skate. Pretty sure a lot of rinks have them available free or maybe a rental.

 

[Beef Invictus]

My daughter needs that walker. Her natural balance is fantastic, but she's too cautious to work on pushing off. My rink doesn't have them

 

[Pablo Messier]

My youngest started around 2 or 3 and picked it up amazingly fast. Progressed from getting up on his own, walking to skating to snow plow stops. Didnt need to do a whole lot. Just play, skate with him a bit. Helped that he had older siblings skating as well for incentive. Just like learning to walk, gonna fall down a bunch but once they figure out the balance, will really take off. One trick is to use a marker and draw a small track on the ice for the kid to follow. Some kids really like that.

 

[Mattb124]

Our local rink uses 5 gallon buckets to help young skaters stay upright. Cheap, easy, and can be stacked to adjust the height.