School Holiday Activities to Stay Active
School holidays often leaves parents looking for new and fun ways to occupy the kids and stay active. We have compiled a list of skate activities for both home and away to keep your children occupied over the holidays.
School Holiday Ideas
Netball and Basketball Courts are great smooth surfaces for Skating
The great thing about inline skating (also, referred to as 'rollerblading') and roller skating is that you can do it almost anywhere that has flat ground! Basketball courts and netball courts often have great smooth surfaces that are easy and safe to skate on.
Go Skating at your Local Park
Often local parks have smooth paths that are great to skate around. You could even make a family activity and have a skate picnic so the kids can burn some energy and then play on the playground.
Take the kids to the Skate Rinks
Skate Rinks are perfect if you have active kids who lose interest in activities really quickly. Roller Rinks hire out inline skates, (also referred to as 'rollerblades') roller skates and protective gear so you can try it for very little investment. If they love it and want to do more inline skating or roller skating, we can help kit you out with perfect skates and gear! If you are looking for school holiday ideas in Melbourne, below we have put together a map to help find a rink or indoor park near you.
Roller Blading and Roller Skating lessons
If your children are active and want to learn to skate or grow their abilities, many of the roller rinks offer lessons from beginner to advanced. If you are looking for outdoor lessons we have a list of Skate Teachers in Melbourne who can help you out.
Taking kids to the Skate Parks
Taking kids to the skate park can be a lot of fun and a great way to keep them occupied over the school holidays. Before taking your kids to the skate park, making sure they are confident on a basketball court or a flat surface will help ensure they have the skills to start their skatepark journey. It is also an opportunity to inspire them and let them learn by watching some older kids and adults who have a bit more experience. Because of this, it is also important to teach them a little bit about skate park etiquette to ensure they have a safe and fun time at the park! We have detailed some of our favourite tips for making sure your trip is as safe as it can be.
- Don’t cross lines - Make sure you watch different skaters to see the path they are skating, this will help ensure that they don’t have to try and stop suddenly if you or your child get in their way. Often skaters will be trying the same trick, or multiple skaters will be using the same area, so if you are looking it is not too tricky to identify the path skaters are commonly using.
- Watch your child - Children may not have the experience yet to know their surroundings and be aware of other park users moving through it. For their safety make sure to guide them and ensure they are not ending up in other users' way or moving erratically as it can be hard for other park users to judge when a child changes direction suddenly. As skateparks are designed for users of all abilities, you should be able to find a section with some smaller ramps and obstacles that can be used safely. It is always good to check out a skatepark before beginning skating, so you know where more dangerous areas (like big bowls) are that you want to avoid with someone who is just starting out.
- Take turns - It's natural for all users of a skate park before dropping in or hitting a feature to look around and see who else might be moving in the same area and to wait to take turns allowing all the users of the park to have a good time.
- Don’t sit on boxes - Boxes, ledges and stairs are features that people will skate and ride on so if you want to take a break please use the seats available or step out of the park so that everyone can enjoy the area.
- Lessons - If your child is raring to go and has the basic skating skills try taking them to lessons at one of the indoor parks where they can really progress.
Looking for School Holiday Activities in Melbourne?
Skate Rinks in Melbourne
Melbourne is pretty spoiled and has the majority of the roller rinks in Australia so you should be able to find one not too far from you.
1 - Caribbean Rollerama - Scoresby
- Upcoming Events
- Lessons and Sessions
- Parties
- Private Functions
2 - Skateworld Mordialloc - Mordialloc
- Regular sessions
- Learn to skate lessons - Every Saturday
- Parties
- Private Functions
- General sessions
- Learn to skate lessons
- Parties
- Private Functions
4 - Sunshine Roller Skating Centre - Sunshine
- General sessions
- Learn to skate lessons
- Parties
- Private Functions
6 - Skaterz - Eltham
- Holiday Programs
- Regular sessions
- Learn to skate lessons
- Parties
- Private Functions
5 - Lilydale Skate Rink - Lilydale
- General Sessions
- Lessons and Sessions
- Parties
- Private Functions
6 - Rollerway Skate Centre - Newtown
- Holiday Programs
- Regular sessions
- Learn to skate lessons
- Parties
- Private Functions
- Inline Hockey
Indoor Skate Parks Melbourne
If it’s raining and you need to get the kids out of the house, here are a few great indoor skate parks that will get the kids moving.
- General sessions
- Lessons
- Parties
- Private Functions
- Special Events
9 - The Park - Geelong
- General sessions
- Lessons
- Parties
- Private Functions
- Special Events
10 - Volo Skate Park - Campbellfield
- General sessions
- Lessons
- Parties
- Private Functions
- Special Events
11 - Rampfest - Braybrook
- General sessions
- Lessons
- Parties
- Private Functions
- Special Events
12 - Rampit - Bayswater
- General sessions
- Lessons
- Parties
- Private Functions
- Special Events
Kids activities at home to stay active
Entertaining the kids at home and keeping them active can be hard, so here are some school holiday ideas for home. Inline skating and roller skating are great, you can do them almost anywhere!
If you're asking where to skate at home, any flat surface will do! The driveway, garage, a few sheets of plywood on the grass or the hallway are some ideas. Just remember to stay safe, and keep in mind that roads and footpaths are shared spaces.
Get creative - Grab the chalk, mark out an obstacle course to follow or just draw your own skate rink.
Street hockey - Set up a 1v1 with a sibling or best friend, use a milk crate or two shoes as a goal. For hockey sticks you can even use a broom or piece of wood and a tennis ball makes a good alternative to a hockey puck.
Set up some obstacles - If you have daredevils on your hands give them some obstacles, a piece of wood to jump over, a plank of wood on a brick as a jump, we even sell some mini kickers that work great in the driveway. If you want a less risky option, marking out some “jumps” on the ground with chalk can be a good entry point. Always put your protective gear and Helmet on so the fun lasts the whole holiday!
Put down some cones - Slalom skaters use cones in a line to do slalom freestyle skating but they can be used in so many ways to enhance the skating fun.
Build a Play rail - If your kids are getting into park skating and want to learn new tricks at home, consider building them a simple play rail so they can learn new grinds at home. Here's a handy tutorial on how to build your own grind box from one of our amazing pro skaters!
We have a number of other helpful guides to help you out this holiday
- What Protective Gear to Wear While Skating
- 3 Great Tips for Getting Started on Skates
- Beginners Guide To Roller Skating
If you are wanting to get your hands on your own pair of kid’s skates or kid’s gear and can’t come in store, we recommend measuring your feet so we can help you out with sizing with the best inline skates or roller skates for kids (or yourself!).