Best Tips for a Fun Day on the Sledding Hill

It has been a mild winter until Mother Nature brought us more than 2 feet of snow and a few snow days off from work and school to go along with it this month.  Of course rather than stay huddled up in the house our family bundled up and traversed over to the neighborhood park for some sledding fun.  Here are a few tips to make sure your day out on the snowy slopes are a blast and not a bust:

 Know the Temperature Before You Go

The ideal temperature is 29 to 30 degrees - you really don't want to sled on ice or snow but rather water.  Yes WATER!!!  At that temperature the friction from your sled should melt the snow to create a thin film of water on which to sail down the hill.  This will help you get the fastest speeds out of your sled.

Don't believe me?  Think of ice skaters.  They place their weight on the blades of a skate which creates pressure on ice briefly melting its surface so the skater can move quickly over a thin layer of water which is much smoother than the ice itself.  Wow you just have to love physics!

When it comes to snow, you aren't looking for fluffy or grainy but rather flaky.  The large flakes that originate when it snows at temperatures between 25 and 28 degrees compacts the best for sledding.

Make sure before you go out that you check both the temperature and wind chill factor.  Be cautious of hypothermia and frostbite that can come on quickly and without a lot of warning in the cold.  Kids should always be properly dressed to avoid skin contact with snow and frigid air.  If you see a child shivering that means it is time to come inside out of the cold to warm up.  CLICK HERE for a ton of useful information regarding cold weather injuries that impact children from aboutkidshealth.

Know Your Hill

While a little friction will help your slide down the hill, gravity is what really gets you going.  So the steepness of the hill has the biggest impact on how fast you can get racing down it.

Being familiar with a hill's surroundings in advance will be a great help in knowing of obstacles and hazards to avoid that may be hidden by snow until some unfortunate sledder crashes into them.  Knowing in advance where a ditch, tree stump, pond, or fire hydrant may be located is a proactive way to avoid a problem later.  We go sledding on a hill at a local park that we also frequent during the summer so that we're pretty familiar with the landscape and surrounding even when everything is covered in snow.

A used path provides the best path.  Riders who take turns and share space will have the best compacted snow for a smooth, fast ride down the hill.  Don't walk back up the hill on your sledding path as you want to keep the track smooth and not interfere with oncoming sledders (which is a concept I just can't seem to get to stick in my son's head).

Know your preferred hill in advance also helps know what type of sled is the best to bring with you.  Snow discs and inflatable tubes are best for wide open lazy slopped surfaces because you can't control their direction and these have a tendency to fly up in the air when hitting bumps.  For steeper surfaces and more confined spaces traditional sled designs and toboggans are more well suited.  Never using a plastic sheet, cardboard box or cafeteria tray as a make shift sled is a common warning you'll get from health care professionals when it comes to sledding.


Safety First

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics more than 20,000 kids per year end up in the emergency room with injuries from sledding each year.  No one wants to dampen a good time with a visit to an emergency room so make sure to make safety a priority when on the sledding hill.  While sledding down a hill head first may be a thrill, that is the number one no-no pediatricians have when they warn about dangers associated with sledding.  Sled with feet forward so if a collision occurs a head injury is less likely.  Pediatricians also recommend children under 5 should ride with an adult.

Conduct a walk through of the landing area before kids start sledding into it to make sure there aren't any hidden hazards like fallen tree branches, trash, fences or any other obstacle that could be hidden under the snow and cause a collision.

Make sure kids know not to crash into one another and to avoid walking or sledding into the path of others whether going up or down the hill.  Insuring children know how to ditch a sled if they believe they are going to collide with another sled or an obstacle like a tree is also important.  The best way to get off is to roll off sideways and let the sled keep going versus trying to jump out or stop the sled with hands or feet.

Parental supervision and PARTICIPATION is always important!

Don't hide from winter, embrace it! Grab a sled and go have some fun in the snowy weather!

Snow on the Ground Doesn't Mean You Can't See Animals Around the Zoo

We made a trip to the Detroit Zoo the other day because my kids wanted to visit its baby giraffe Mpenzi (named the Swahili word for love).  Mpenzi was born on September 30, 2014 is almost four months old now and sure is a "big" baby.  We spent a half hour with no other visitors around watching Mpenzi and his mother Kivuli play together in their pen while a volunteer docent told us about all sorts of interesting facts regarding giraffes.  Kivuli's father Jabari (the second tallest giraffe in a North American zoo) kept sticking his neck out to get our attention and show-off from his pen located next to the mother and baby's.  The docent chuckled that "Jabari loves visitors and can be a real attention hog."

Many people don't think of winter as being a time to visit the zoo, but most are open year long and if you are willing to bundle up and embrace dealing with some cold weather it can be a great experience.  We've made several winter visits to the Detroit Zoo over the last few years and every trip we've essentially had the place to ourselves while having some memorable animal encounters.  During our most recent visit the zoo's grounds were covered in snow and it was a brisk 30 degrees out, but it was also sunny with no breeze so it really wasn't that chilly out as we made our way around.

 

There are plenty of animals on display outdoors even when snow is on the ground.  We have seen our best views of the tiger at the Detroit Zoo on winter visits.  You wouldn't think that Lions from Africa or Kangaroos from Australia would be out in the cold, but we've seen them outside during winter trips as well.  Though the lions do like to lounge on the warming rocks in their exhibits on these snowy cold days.

 

Winter is a great time to see the polar bears who are much more active and playful when there is snow on the ground.  The Detroit Zoo provides multiple heated indoor locations where you can view the bears, as well as an assortment of seals that are also native to the arctic climates, and while these areas are often uncomfortably crowded when the weather is warmer my kids normally have the run of the place during our winter visits.

The best plan for a winter zoo visit is to make sure you know where all the indoor exhibits are and map out how you can get around using them as bridges to get out of the cold.  Our normal path at the Detroit Zoo involves jumping inside these display areas between viewing the outdoor exhibits: Penguinarium, Butterfly Garden/Bird Aviary, Otter Habitat, Reptile House, Chimpanzee & Gorilla Enclosure, Rhino Exhibit, Giraffe House, Arctic Ring of Life, and wrapping up our trip with a stop at Amphibianville before leaving.  The Detroit Zoo does have a Winter Map posted online of their own recommendations for a route through the zoological park which is pretty much the reverse of what I just described.

Here is some info on some of the indoor areas that people who don't have annual memberships and regularly attend the Detroit Zoo may not know:

The Reptile House is in the middle of the grounds and a nice break to get out of the cold between the long walk between the indoor exhibits at the rear of the zoo and those at the front.  It is normally empty of people when we have visited in the winter and kept at a tropical humid temperature making it a very comfortable place to be on a cold day.  The real bonus though is that the snakes are always very active when we've stopped in on our snow day visits compared to the summer months when the crowd noise tends to send them hiding in their exhibits.

I don't believe many people realize their is an indoor Rhino Exhibit at the Detroit Zoo as it is always empty when we visit.  It provides nice views of the animals from a heated gallery, plus some cool benches to sit down and take the load off.

The Giraffe House is heated, open and has benches to sit on.  You can get up close to these gigantic creatures with a much better view than what you can see outdoors during the warmer months.  You really don't understand how tall these animals are until you stand up right next to one.

The Otter Habitat viewing area is heated but the pond environment where the animals swim and lounge about isn't and when the weather is cold these animals love to play....the most active we've ever seen the otters has been during our winter trips.

Going stir crazy in your house, maybe a winter road trip to a zoo is just the ticket to get out and about.  Make sure you contact the zoo before you go to confirm their winter hours (which normally are normally different than during the peak months) and that they are actually open the day you want to go.  Check to see if the zoo has any special events going on during the winter too as part of your trip planning.  For example the Detroit Zoo has several WILD WINTER WEEKENDS with special themed activities going on during those events.

 

CLICK HERE to search a list of all the accredited zoos and aquariums in the United States and see which ones might be close enough to you for a family road trip.