AfL Mini-Games: How your kids can curl at home
Curling is a great sport for kids to try, and you can easily set up a simple curling game at home! Here’s how.
What you need
- Unwrapped bars of soap: These make great curling stones because they’ve got a nice weight to them and they slide well.
- Masking tape: Use tape to mark your “house” (the word for the target in curling) on a smooth floor surface such as linoleum or hardwood. Mark an outer circle 60cm in diameter, then an inner circle 30cm in diameter, and finally a bullseye 5cm in diameter in the middle.
Where to play
- The kitchen, the living room, a hallway—anywhere with hardwood or linoleum floors.
How to play
- Take turns sliding the bars of soap (your “stones”) along the floor. See if you can get them to stop in the centre of the target.
- You can also bump opponent “stones” out of the way or off the target.
- As you release your “stone,” make a slow lunge forward like a curler.
- Try using a broom and see if sweeping will make a “stone” travel further.
Train their brains
Help kids train their brains for the strategic part of curling by playing games that develop another important muscle: their brains! Many board games help children develop sportsmanship and resilience, which are two key ingredients of great athletes.
For ages five and up, try: Blokus, Obstacles, Quirkle, or chess
For ages eight and up: Ticket to Ride
