AfL Mini-Games: How your kids can snowboard slopestyle at home

No snow, no problem!

You can turn your home into an indoor slopestyle course, providing you have enough pillows, cushions, blankets, and mattresses to soften the landing of your mini-snowboard acrobats. Boards aren’t used; this is about working on body rotations and proper landings.

• Create a course around the house: up and over the couch, over the ottoman, over the bed, over the other bed, and so on.
• As your kids run the course, get them to mix in some moves when they reach open spaces: cartwheels, spins in the air to the right and left, roll on the ground in both directions.
• Your kids should practice rotating their bodies in the air and on the ground in every direction possible.
• If your course includes jumping, have the kids land at least once facing backwards, with your help if they need it.
• Let them tumble over pillows as much as they want.
• A good landing is quiet. A loud, heavy landing can hurt the knees and ankles.
• Award points for good landings, spins, and rotations.
• It’s a great excuse to jump up and down on springy beds!
• Encourage your kids to always land on their feet and avoid falling if possible.

If real snow arrives in your area, find a nearby hill (e.g. public park, school yard, or golf course) and create the same type of course up and over snowbanks, snow mounds, and slopes. The key is to roll, spin, jump, and land safely while running around or sliding as fast as possible.

If you have access to really deep snow, have your kids jump from higher and higher into soft snow banks. Keep an eye on them though. It won’t be long before they’ll want to jump from the roof of the house!

Have fun, and if you get the urge to try snowboarding yourself, that’s fine. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood.

Check out these kids as they learn how to snowboard in their school’s gymnasium.

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.