First Steps on Rollerblades: How To Teach Your Child to Rollerblade

If your child is eager to learn how to rollerblade, you can support them with our comprehensive guide. Before you begin practising together, ensure they have the necessary protective gear—helmet, knee pads, elbow pads, and wrist guards are essential. The best way to learn rollerblading is through playful activities.

 

Start practising on grass, where it’s easier to maintain balance, your child will feel safer, and any falls will be less painful. Training should begin with learning two basic rollerblading positions (known here as the elephant and the duck) and the technique of falling safely. Learning through play is an excellent method to spark interest in young skaters and motivate them to improve their skills.

 

Learning Basic Rollerblading Positions

 

You can start training with the elephant position. This exercise involves alternately lifting evenly positioned legs bent at the knees. Pretending to have heavy elephant legs, your child steps in place on the rollerblades. After a few repetitions, you can move on to the next exercise—the duck position. Here, the heels should be turned inward, and the toes outward (forming a V shape). In this position, the child again tries to alternately lift the left and right leg, march in place like a duck, and bend the knees simultaneously.

 

The third exercise involves alternating between the elephant and duck positions. Encourage your child to turn in this manner—first to the right, then to the left. First, the child takes a step in the elephant position (feet close together and parallel, toes pointing forward), followed by a step in the duck position (feet in a V shape, heels close together, toes pointing outward).

 

Exercises With Accessories

 

To add variety to the training, consider incorporating accessories. These can be disposable cups, plastic discs, or anything you find in the park—pebbles, pinecones, chestnuts, colourful leaves. The selected items should be arranged on the grass so that your child can easily collect them.

 

What exactly does this exercise involve? The young skater approaches each element in a duck position, assumes the elephant stance, bends over, and picks up the object. The goal is to collect all the items in this manner.

 

IMPORTANT! While squatting on rollerblades, feet should be aligned evenly with toes pointing forward (elephant position). A wide stance with toes pointing outward can cause the skates to splay, risking loss of balance and a fall. During object collection, hands should always be extended forward. This helps the child get accustomed to extending their arms forward while skating.

Learning o Fall Safely

 

For a child to safely use the rollerblading track, they must learn to fall safely and in a controlled manner. The exercise called "“frozen lake”" is perfect for this. The child moves on skates in a duck position (toes wide apart) and on the command “"ice is cracking”," they squat with arms extended. They then lower themselves further and fall forward onto their knees. The lower they can squat, the less painful the fall will be. This skill should be well-mastered before skating on concrete. Equally important is the method of getting up. First, lift one leg and place it firmly on the ground, then use both hands to push up and stand. Once standing, the skates should be immediately brought together by placing the feet close to each other.

 

Time for Asphalt

 

It’s time to hit the asphalt. Initially, it’s worth repeating the mastered positions. The first steps on a hard surface start with moving forward in a duck position and briefly gliding in the elephant position.

 

To add variety to the exercise, you can set up an obstacle course using the same accessories as before (cups, cones, discs). On the course, the child moves in a slalom, taking small steps in the duck position. At first, you can guide the child by the hand; when they decide to tackle the course independently, they must remember to extend their arms forward (acting like a steering wheel to help maintain direction).

 

Lemons and Aeroplanes—Exercises To Improve Skills

 

A preparatory exercise for rollerblading is skating in the shape of an “O”, also known as lemons. Your task is to set up obstacles at equal intervals to prepare a path for the child. The obstacles should be bypassed in such a way that the legs first spread apart and then come together. This way, the child bypasses the obstacle between their legs, drawing a shape resembling the letter O or a lemon.

 

End your training session with a fun activity like playing aeroplane. While rollerblading (or walking), extend your arms wide to mimic an aeroplane. Approach your child, who at this moment needs to squat down to glide under your arm. This exercise helps master rollerblading in a squat position. It’s crucial to keep your legs close together and point your toes forward (like an elephant stance), as otherwise, the rollerblades might splay out, leading to a fall.

 

Such training with your child definitely prepares them for skating and helps them master basic skills while motivating them to continue practising. You can also find other parts of the rollerblading course on the Movino YouTube channel.