Teaching Toddler to Skate

[Gillika]

In my town there are no lessons for kids till they are 4 so, unqualified as I am, I decided to take my 2.5 year-old daughter out to skate myself. Today was her first day. She started out walking on the ice just great, but I thought maybe she should be sliding so I tried to show her. After that she gave up walking and basically just hung on to me while I pushed her around the ice (she was off-balance and it killed my back). She told me several times she wanted to do it by herself but I didn't really know if that's a good idea. Now that I've looked at some other threads here it seems like maybe that is how people learn.

Could anyone tell a not-very-good-skater mom what are the steps you go through just to get your kid started. I'm not trying to teach her anything fancy, just enough to get her out on the ice for the fun of it. Two things: I'm not good at skating backwards (can I still teach/help her?); having someone else teach her at this age won't work because she is really shy and will refuse.

Thanks a LOT for any advice.

Gillika

[dbny]

First, I hope she is wearing a helmet!

The fact that she just started walking on her own is terrific. That's exactly what the first lessons teach. Just let her "walk". We call it marching, by the way. Have her hold her hands in front at waist height and stretched to the sides a little, as if on a table. Ask her to bend down and touch her knees, then up again. Then see if she can do this while moving. Practice falling with her, and getting up (make a puppy dog or kitty cat, then put one foot in front and push up. Some little ones get up by pushing from their toe picks and hands with tushy up in the air.). Try to make all of this into fun games like Simon Says, Follow the Leader, "Heads, Shoulders, Knees & Toes".

[Gillika]

She is wearing a helmet. She actually likes it, says she's a hockey player :-)

Thanks so much for the advice. We went back this morning to have another go at it with the ice less crowded. This time I didn't hold her up the whole time. She practised trying to march without me holding on. Her feet kept sliding forward out from under her, which freaked her out a bit, so I took your advice and we concentrated having fun practising falling, crawling and rolling on the ice (playing tag) and seeing it's fun whether you're up or down. She seemed to have a really good time, which is what I am hoping for her, so thank you very much for the tips.

Is there any trick to prevent the skates from taking off forward when you're marching or is it just something you get with practice? (She had her hands forward.)

Thank you for your help!

Gillika

[fadedstardust]

You wanna make sure she stands up straight and keeps her arms out to the side as much as possible. Have her make a big V with her arms, so it's not fully to the side, but not in front either.

[garyc254]

You wanna make sure she stands up straight and keeps her arms out to the side as much as possible. Have her make a big V with her arms, so it's not fully to the side, but not in front either.

We tell our kids to pretend they're pushing a grocery cart.

Make sure she is "marching" and not just walking. Picking up her feet will help her be more stable.

Also, if she needs your help, offer her your flat palm to balance herself with. One hand only. Tell her she can't grab your hand, just put her hand on it.

Is she wearing hockey skates or figure skates? Hockey skates are less stable for young beginners.

[dbny]

I'm so glad to hear that your daughter is having fun. That is the single most important element for kids, and sometimes for adults too!

Is there any trick to prevent the skates from taking off forward when you're marching or is it just something you get with practice? (She had her hands forward.)

Practice marching off ice first. Emphasize picking up the knees, just straight up and down, not stepping ahead. I have the feeling that she is stepping ahead as if she were walking in shoes. Picking up the knees to march usually helps fix that problem. Of course, off ice, she won't be moving ahead much just going up and down with the feet/knees, but she can get used to the proper movement that way. Another trick is to have her stomp in puddles, ask to hear her stomping on the ice. When she is more stable with that, then you two can "walk like a duck" - point your feet slightly outward to march, and of course, quack while you do it :)

Gary's point about hockey vs. figure skates is also very important. It's much harder to learn in hockey skates.

[sue123]

Gary's point about hockey vs. figure skates is also very important. It's much harder to learn in hockey skates.

i've been having a problem with the quote function, so i hopw this works. i learned to skate in hockey skates first. i stayed in hockey skates for about a year after i started skating and signed up for figures. i think it may have had something to do with the fact that the skates were rentals, and the hockey skates hurt my feet less, or maybe the blade is situated in a wider base (they have that thing to hold the blade, it's not directly screwed onto the bottom of the skate).

then again, i'm also ther oddball who thinks backspins are easier.

[dbny]

i've been having a problem with the quote function, so i hopw this works. i learned to skate in hockey skates first. i stayed in hockey skates for about a year after i started skating and signed up for figures. i think it may have had something to do with the fact that the skates were rentals, and the hockey skates hurt my feet less, or maybe the blade is situated in a wider base (they have that thing to hold the blade, it's not directly screwed onto the bottom of the skate).

then again, i'm also ther oddball who thinks backspins are easier.

Learning to skate yourself is not going to help you know which is harder. Teaching someone else to skate in hockey vs figure skates is what tells us which is harder. Hockey skates are higher off the ice, have a thinner blade, have no toepick to prevent falling off the front of the blade and no tail to help prevent falling off the back of the blade, and have a smaller rocker, which makes it easier to fall off either end.

[Gillika]

Thanks so much for the tips. I was hoping to post that I tried them out this morning since I was planning to take her Mondays and Thursdays, but she woke up sick :-( I told her I would take her Saturday instead and she shivered her whole body in excitement. So something's going right!

My daughter is using figure skates. (The place I got them didn't even have hockey skates her size, which was lucky I guess since I thought they were only different in the toepick).

Gillika

[Gillika]

I wanted to thank people for the great advice. I took my daughter skating Saturday and it went fantastic. I encouraged her to lift her feet and stamp them down, and I also held just one hand, and put the other lightly behind her back (which I saw dbny post on another thread) and it worked so well. She was flying around the ice stamping as fast as she could go and was actually pulling me along on my skates (me keeping my feet still) with the hand that was holding on to mine.

What a difference! Thanks a lot!

Gillika

[backspin]

Some other things to try --- only if the ice is very empty!

Bring a beanie baby, or some such thing. A glove can work in a pinch. Have her THROW it---then go get it! They get so excited about getting the beanie, they don't think about being scared--then they learn to balance while bending down to scoop it up.

Other games w/ beanies (or whatever)--balance on the head while marching (teaches them to keep head up) ; put it on the ice & have her swizzle over it (if you don't know what a swizzle is, ask any little figure skater you see at the rink!) . Take 2 beanies or 2 gloves--balance one on the *back* of each hand (palms held down), then march--teaching keeping hands up.

If the rink allows it, you can use a fat washable marker to draw things on the ice----a curving path to follow, little symbols where she stops & does something---a swirl means you turn around, a frog means you hop, a bug means you stomp, etc.

ETA: bubbles work great too---the kind you blow w/ a wand--they cost like 40 cents! Kids love to chase & pop the bubbles---if they land on the ice they stomp them.

[Isk8NYC]

Is there any trick to prevent the skates from taking off forward when you're marching or is it just something you get with practice? Do you mean when she puts her foot back on the ice it "slips" forward? That could be caused by her just not being used to marching and transferring weight from one foot to the other. If so, she'll get better with practice. (That's actually a readiness test for skating: the kids who can balance well on one foot off-ice usually have no problems on the ice.)

It can also be caused by dull skates. If she seems to be sliding sideways, that's because of dullness. Have her skates sharpened and ask the sharpener to "stone" the edge to take off the sharpness. (Too sharp is tough for beginners to deal with.)

If you're using rental skates, try writing down the inventory number the next time you get a good pair. Then, ask for those skates when you pick up the rentals.

Good luck,

[Isk8NYC]

A good exercise is to practice marching on the hockey lines across the rink. Have her march with her feet close together three times (saying "Little Steps" each time), then have her take 3 "Giant Steps" where her feet spread out to go on both sides of the line.