Skiing — a step-by-step lesson for grown-up and child
This lesson teaches skiing through its famous lunch menu: tips together for pizza (slow and stopped), tips apart for french fries (fast and free) — the two shapes every skier on Earth learns first.
What is this?
Skiing is sliding down snow on long boards: legs bouncing like springs, tips together in a wedge (pizza!) to slow down, tips parallel (french fries!) to glide, poles trailing behind — the mountain does the pushing, the skier does the steering.
What does it mean?
Skiing inverts the usual rule: here the STOP is learned before the speed. The pizza wedge gives a four-year-old a brake they control with their own legs — which is why ski schools worldwide teach it before anything else.
What does the child need to know?
Your child needs three skiing ideas: pizza — ski tips together, heels out, the wedge that slows and stops; french fries — boards parallel, the glide that goes; and mountain knees are SOFT knees — the springs that drink every bump.
Why this matters
Named-after-lunch skills are unforgettable, and the wedge is safety and skill in one shape. Practised in socks down a carpet slope, it hands the child their brake before the mountain ever does.
What it teaches
Wedge braking from the hips, soft-knee absorption (springs, not sticks), edge awareness, and the mountain’s order of operations: stop first, speed second, always.
Words to learn
skiingsnowpizzafrench frieswedgeglideslope
Say this to your child
“"Skiing is sliding down the snow! Want to slow down? Tips together — PIZZA! The wedge stops the whole mountain. Want to glide? Boards straight — FRENCH FRIES! And your knees stay soft like springs the whole time, drinking every bump. Stop first, speed second — that is the mountain’s rule, and lunch names the moves."”
Step by step
- Show the card: "This is skiing — sliding down the mountain on long boards."
- Pizza: heels slide OUT, tips together — a thin wedge. Hold the shape. That is the brake.
- French fries: boards slide parallel — the glide. Say both shapes, be both shapes.
- Mountain knees: bounce gently — soft springs. Stiff legs bump, soft legs drink the bumps. Bounce-test everything.
- Play carpet-slope below and close: "pizza to stop, fries to go, springs all the way."
Look closer at the picture
On this card the word "skiing" leads at the top in big letters with the snow’s scene below — the skier on the snowy slope exactly as a green-run morning looks.
Ask your child
"Which shape slows us down?" "Which shape lets us glide?" "What are mountain knees — sticks or springs?"
What your child can say or do
Your child might say: "Pizza! Tips together!" "Fries — I’m going fast!" or the mountain law: "Stop first, speed second!"
Out in the real world
Skiing owns the winter holidays of the US Rockies, the Canadian powder, the Australian and NZ snow fields — and every ski school on Earth teaches pizza first. On a snowy screen, hunt for the wedge: every beginner is a pizza; every racer is a fry.
Try it together
Carpet Slope: socks on, a smooth rug as the "run," the hallway the "mountain." Side-step UP the slope (skiers sidestep!), then slide down — fries for three counts, PIZZA to stop before the cushion-trees. Ten runs, alternating shapes. Then the bounce test: stiff legs vs spring legs over a bumpy towel — springs win, always.
Understanding check
Ask: "Which shape is the brake? Which shape is the glide? What do mountain knees drink?" Pizza, french fries, the bumps — three answers and the mountain is ready.
Parent tips
Practise the wedge STANDING STILL until the heels know the slide-out — then take it downhill. And keep the run short and the trees (cushions) far apart: early slopes are for shape-building, not courage-testing.
This lesson pairs with the Skiing flashcard in the library — print it, show it, keep it on the fridge. Back to Sports & Movement (Class 37).