Even if you're a klutz at the double lutz, you can still have a blast on ice. Here are a few activities that will keep young skaters' spirits on the rise, even when the mercury continues to fall.
STRIDE AND GLIDE
Choose a starting line from which every contestant can skate three strides and then glide. Whoever goes the farthest wins. For a greater challenge, try gliding on one skate.
1...2...3 RED LIGHT
One skater, It, stands at the far end of the ice with his back to the rest of the crowd. While It counts aloud, everyone else skates forward. At any time, It may shout "red light" and turn around. Skaters still moving must return to the starting line. The game continues in this manner until one skater reaches and tags It.
PAIRS RACING
The object of this contest is to be the first pair to travel the length of the ice, circle around a specified marker and make it back. The trick is that pairs must stand face-to-face holding hands so that one person skates backward, pulling the other forward.
FREEZE TAG
In this team game, each captain tries to tag and "freeze" players from the other group. Once frozen, skaters cannot move unless they are tagged by their own team captain. When all the members of one team (except for the captain) are frozen in place, the other team is declared the winner.
SKATE FOR A SPELL
For a fun finish, ask everyone to describe skating in one word. Then take turns trying to write each word on ice by skating in the shapes of the letters--the bigger the better.
