7 Steps to a Backyard Ice Rink

I grew up with a pond in my backyard. The neighborhood kids would come over when the ice got thick enough and we all would skate for hours playing fun pick-up hockey games or pretending to speed skate. At some point my mom would decide we needed hot chocolate and graham crackers, and we'd reluctantly remove our skates and peel out of our winter gear and sit around my kitchen table with rosy cheeks discussing our great shots on goal and our epic falls on the ice.

Our backyard doesn't have a pond, but the kids and I got into the Stanley Cup playoffs last year. My little girl wants to learn to skate just like Sidney Crosby, and my son has his heart set on developing his goal-tending skills to score a cool customized helmet. There are a few rinks in the area that put down ice in the winter, but as a pond skater I find the crowded ice to be pretty limiting as far as trying new things. We has great success with our rink last year. Now as we wait for the next Stanley Cup winners to appear on CBS to hold the cup aloft, we can't wait for it to be winter so we can skate our backyard!

Our backyard is fairly flat, which makes it a great candidate for a homemade rink. There are several high-priced readymade rinks and rink kits on the market, but we're a DIY-style family. If your yard is challenging consider investing in a kit.

What you need:

PVC pipe for the perimeter

Heavy weight plastic sheeting for the basin

Extra PVC to cap off ends

Weights to weight and secure the tarp

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