“This post was published in 2011 and updated in February 2021”
Guest blog post by Leigh and Rob Mitchell
This winter we have waited quite some time for snow. So much so, I truly felt like a kid again when it finally came. I discovered how much I love sledding in -25°C weather (just wear your snow pants, hot pockets and scarves!). My son felt that I was a hero – out there in the cold, racing up the hill. It is a great way to get exhilarating exercise (something that treadmills just can’t give you). Given that I was pregnant last winter I was excited to have some cold thrills again, ones that were not permitted last winter.
My husband Rob decided that this was the year we had to have a backyard rink. I had been telling him for years I didn’t want a backyard rink. I said, “it will ruin the grass”. “It will be a sloppy mess.”
What you need to make a backyard ice rink
- Space: Find a suitable space in you backyard for the rink, the more level it is the better.
- Materials to build the rink: wood framework, brackets, washers, white tarp and a garden hose to fill the wood framework with water.
- Cold weather: to make the backyard ice rink -3 to -6 degrees weather for 3 nights are perfect ice making weather for Rob.
- Maintaining the rink: light floods after a day of use. Rob uses a garden hose gaff tapped to a hockey stick.
How to make a backyard Ice rink
I decided that I had to loosen up and live a little when I saw how much fun our son had going to the skating rink with his dad. I thought I wasn’t going to skate myself because up until now skating has ranked pretty low on my favorite things to do, but then I watched how much trouble it is to make an ice rink. By the way, according to my sister, it doesn’t ruin your grass, she is a landscape architect and she says it makes your grass greener. At first, the harsh realities of rink making frustrated me. I would be at home with our two kids (one a baby) and we would be busy trying to get stuff done before Christmas and then Rob would say, “gotta water the rink”
I would laugh at first, but after days on end I thought, “for gosh sake get this over with already”. It was not easy, it takes tremendous patience (Yes, Rob has lots of patience for ice) and your hose freezes a lot.
But Rob discovered doing laundry helps unfreeze it – so he has been doing more laundry. I like that. His friends supported him a lot. Every Canadian can’t help but support him. Skating is our tradition. What is more Canadian than making your own rink? When it was finished I actually felt excited to skate. It reminded me of when I was a little kid, skating on our cottage river. I love how old childhood memories come to light when you are having fun.
Guess what I learned now that the skating rink is up and running? THAT I LOVE PLAYING HOCKEY. There is something to be said about hitting pucks against a wood board to get your aggression out. I LOVE IT. Rob has been teaching me how to shoot a stick, and I AM ACTUALLY LISTENING. Not just nodding and pretending to listen to him. I think this hockey/rink thing could be great for our marriage.
Night skating
Our son thought tonight we were the coolest parents ever because we went out for an skate after dark (after dinner even!). We took an old lamp as our flood light (the hockey puck broke the bulb but better than a window I say!). When our son got sick of skating Rob pulled him around in a circle on the sled that got lots of giggles. Then we took our baby and gave him a whirl around the rink in his exercise stroller (don’t worry grandmas – it wasn’t minus -25, it was a balmy -6). He can’t talk yet. But I think he liked it a lot.
Ohh, and we took time to do a few snow angels as well.
Check out how to make a community ice rink here.
How to teach your kids how to skate here
Leigh Mitchell, is mother of two charming boys and a wonderful husband. Leigh Mitchell is a writer, marketer, brand builder, and career consultant providing clarity coaching and growth opportunities for professional women. As the founder of Women in Biz Network, she has taken her business from a handful of women in her neighborhood to a national organization of over 35,000. In addition to mentorship, membership and skill-building events for women, Leigh provides marketing services such as personal and business .When she is not working and helping women you can find her spending time with her family in the great outdoors (where there are no computers around).
