| Basketball/Object Between the Knees | Tell the student to pretend as if they have a basketball between their knees so their knees can’t touch | Improves stance by causing them to be aware of their knee positioning. Can help with railed skis and ridin’ dirty. |
| Follow the Leader | Leader skis in front, everyone follows | Good for class management purposes either by having them follow you or have a student be the leader. This also lets students copy your technique. |
| High Five/Fist Bump/Elbow Bump/Mitten hug | A nice way to poke that stoke and get the kids to lean forward. | When played while skiing, for example, high five the instructor halfway through a straight run, the movement pulls the student out of the backseat. |
| Hold a Snowball and throw it. | Have the student make a snowball and then hold it out in front of them with straight arms while skiing. Combines well with throwing the snowball at the end of the run. | By putting their arms out in front of them the student has to focus on keeping shoulders level and weight forward to avoid dropping the snowball. |
| Huddle Up | Huddle up like a football huddle and then move knees side to side using support of the huddle to avoid falling down. | Students work on balance and edging motions in their boots or on skis. |
| I Love You Turns | Student in the middle of the turn reaches out for a hug and yells “I love you!” | The hugging motion brings the student out of the back seat and gets them#stoked |
| Lazer Gunzzzzz | Pick an object down the hill and have your students put their arms at their sides bent at a 90-degree angle. Pretend the students have laser guns on their knees or hands and have them shoot an imaginary object (a zombie per chance?) | Keeps the students from over rotating their upper body to try and initiate a turn and points their knees in the right direction. |
| Monkey Game | Front piece of the binding is the banana and your toe is monkey. Monkey chomps down and eats banana and the kid is in their binding. | Fun metaphor to teach the kids how to put on their skis properly |
| Hokey Pokey | If you don’t know what this is youtube the dance! Just as a hint though… “ya put your right foot in, put your right foot out… Shake it all about!” | Makes the students practice balancing and rotating in their boots. |
| Press the Button | Have the student pretend there is a button on their knee of the outside leg in a turn. They have to push the button to activate their turn. | Causes student to increase pressure on the outside ski helping them to initiate the turn. |
| Obstacle Course | Using your poles set up a course for your students to run or ski through. | Makes walking around and getting comfy in your boots more fun. Also, on skis this can make “J,” “C,” and “S” turns more fun. |
| Race | Race? | Good to get kids competitive and excited and can be used at any step in the progression. Kids love to go zoom zoom fast. |
| Red light/Green light/Other light | Play red light, green light and introduce another color that the students do something čräżÿ at to keep them excited. (ex: purple light do your favorite dance move). | Can be used at any point in the progression to work on stopping skills and taking a LIT dance break!!! |
| Rope Pull | Student imagines their knees are connected by a rope that the instructor pulls on causing their knees to move side to side. | Helps students develop ability to create matching edge sets. Also, useful if you’re teaching sidestepping or side slipping. |
| Shoot a Basketball | Have the students pretend they are shooting a basketball. Can be used while stationary or while skiing. For example, have a student shoot one basketball per turn when doing “S” turns to bring them out of the back seat. | Brings the students weight up and forward causing them to have a better athletic stance and helps them stay moving while making turns. |
| Simon Says | YOU HAVE THEM DO WHAT SIMON SAYS. (spoiler you are Simon) | This can be used in any point of the progression to get the students to do various movements which get them comfortable in their boots; jumping, spinning, balancing, etc. |
| Spread the Butter/Windshield Wipers | On the flats have the students move in and out of a wedge position (their skis are knives and the snow is butter/their skis are windshield wipers and the snow is snow). | Good practice for the rotary movements which are the foundation for braking and turning. |
| Squish the Bug | Have the students pretend they have a bug on their shin in their boot and they need to squish to get it out. | Brings student forward and creates proper shin pressure. |
| Walk Like a Duck | Have the students walk in a backwards pizza in their skis and quack like a duck with each step. | Students duck walk to get up a hill instead of side-stepping and introduces movement of skating. |
| Zombies/Frankenstein | Have the students act like a Zombie or Frankenstein by sticking their arms straight out and making their best zombie noises. | By bringing their arms forward this game can help bring kids out of the backseat. No more ridin’ dirty only ridin’ CLEAAAAN |