A lot of kids new to the ice seem to push their arms back behind them when trying to push, especially in forward swizzles. Of course, that makes them go splat pretty much all the time. I'm searching for ways to help them keep their arms slightly in front of them. I use the table (at the waist - stretch out your arms and put your hands on the table) concept, but a lot of kids either can't find the right place or can't keep their hands there. Tonight I experimented with letting them carry Mr. Pumpkin Head (plush ball) in front of them, and that seemed to help, but it puts their arms right out in front instead of to the side. Any and all ideas are welcome.

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I have them hold their arms out to the side and look straight ahead. Then I ask them to wiggle their fingers. If they can see their fingers wiggle while still looking straight forward, we're okay. If they can't, their arms are too far back. It's not 100% foolproof, because they don't necessarily maintain the correct position, but it helps get the idea across.

Try sawed-off hockey sticks or broom handles. You can cut a piece of thick string to a proper length, and tell them to keep the string straight. For kids who might not have that kind of coordination or too young for that, I would skate backwards in front of them and put my hands out in the place theirs should be, and tell them to hold their hands over where mine were but not to touch.

I also CONSTANTLY would remind them about where to put their hands and demonstrated. I told them they had to air out their armpits because they were working so hard. That one got them to lift their whole arm instead of just the hands.

We take them on a grocery shopping trip. They have to push their imaginary grocery carts as we travel to different places on the ice to pick up candy, ice cream, hamburgers, etc. We repeat over and over to them "hold on to your shopping cart" as we have them tell us what delicacy they are getting.

Most of the kids are so into the game that they keep their arms in front of them without thinking.

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Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. - Henry David Thoreau

I haven't found something good yet. With snowbunnies, when we still have them skating with their arms in front, I tell them to play the magic piano, and that seems to work okay. When the kids are to the point where we have their arms out to the side, I just constantly remind them to keep their arms up and still (I tell them to freeze them), and to look up.

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- Ashley

Bring bean bags (or a great way to use those old beanie babies that many of us probably collected hundereds of) and have them try to balance one on top of each hand as they do swizzles, or march, or glide, or whatever. It really gets them to keep their arms up.

All great ideas, but nobody has mentioned being an "airplane" yet....so though I'd add that idea.

Thank you for all of the ideas. I'm not sure how well some of them will work, as the kids who need the most help are the ones with the least control and body awareness. One little girl practically spasms if I even touch her.

Being an "airplane" is one of the problems: the arms go up too high and back. It does work for those who have good balance and just need to keep their arms out.

Wild gyrations are another problem, so I don't think the bean bags will help most of these kids, although I do think it's a great idea for the ones who can keep their arms relatively still. I was thinking about the string idea, but I have a feeling we will spend more time picking it up than skating. I'll pick a very small class and give it a try.

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One of our learn-to-skate coaches uses blade guards which she has grabbed from the lost & found over time. The kids hold on to the ends of the guards.

Since the guards she has are all different colors, she assigns one to each skater.

She also plays a game where she collects all of the guards, throws them out on the ice in different directions, and the skaters have to skate to and pick up their own color.

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Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. - Henry David Thoreau