AfL Mini-Games: How your kids can play hockey at home

It’s easy to play hockey at home. Millions of Canadians do it every day.

What you need

• Sticks: You don’t need to spend a bunch of money for sticks, either. Older kids will have extra sticks that are too worn for them to use but are great for road hockey. You can also purchase plastic blades that can be attached to broken sticks. If you do need to purchase sticks, you don’t need to spend top dollar; get cheap ones.
• Pucks: The hard rubber pucks used on the ice aren’t great for everyday, so look to tennis balls, orange street hockey balls, and soft foam rubber pucks.
• Goals: It’s great if you can find goals with netting because they’ll cut down on chasing down balls and pucks, but they aren’t necessary. Anything, including extra toques or gloves, can be used to mark goalposts.

Where to play

• Larger/longer driveways
• Many cul-de-sacs are traffic-free enough to play in
• Unused basketball and tennis courts
• Unused parking lots
• Backyards (but the grass will suffer)

How to play

• If there are enough players, all you really need to do is divide into two teams and get the game started. (To randomly form teams, have everyone toss their stick into a pile. Then one person just divvies them up into two piles.)
• With only a couple of players, you can set up shoot-out competitions where everyone gets a chance to play goal.
• Younger children benefit from games of passing and shooting to work on developing those skills.

We want to see your kids being active and having fun! Tweet, pin, and Instagram your pics using #AfLKids or email them and your kids could be featured on our site or social media channels.