In downtown Oakland, where parking is abundant on Sundays, the Oakland Ice Center offers public skating sessions for those who dare to try it. Heather and I both went with our own two children – kindergartners and 3-year olds – and concluded that this activity is best for ages five and older. Unless you believe that hockey runs through their blood, of course.
The price is $9.50 for kids under 12 and $10.50 for adults to skate. Rental is $4.50. So a family of four who doesn't own skates will spend $58.00. (That is before your kids see the air hockey table.)
Oakland Ice offers a deal on Sundays: Sunday Family Fun Pack: $45 Family of Four (Must include one adult, Skate rental included)
Rental skates come as small as toddler size 6, so if your 3-year old is game, it will be no problem to get her on the ice.
We recommend dressing the kids in snow pants to make falling on one's bum a little softer. Dress warmly and wear gloves.
Stacks of buckets on the ice serve as training wheels for new skaters.
The facility has two ice rinks, and watching hockey practice is one of the main attractions. My children also loved watching the Zamboni, so although as new skaters (they) were done skating after about 20 minutes, we stayed the length of the open skate session to watch the machine clear the ice.
When my daughter got the hang of skating, at age 9 after four or five challenging visits to ice rinks, she began to enjoy skating for the full length of a 90-minute session.
There is a snack bar on the premises, but the food is traditional amusement park quality fare, so if you are fussy, bring your own. I am a fan of the Cock-A-Doodle Cafe, about 10 blocks away, a casual restaurant which is open for breakfast and lunch only, and the Uptown location of Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe is walking distance.
Oakland Ice has holiday hours, offers birthday party packages and hosts ice skating lessons and hockey classes for kids as young as three. It is located at 519 18th Street.
Oakland, CA 94612 (located between San Pablo Ave. and Telegraph Ave.)
We were just there yesterday. They do NOT offer buckets (or anything else) for the little ones to hold on to and it is truly backbreaking work to get them around the rink yourself. We were really disappointed by this because we had read they did and they had a huge stack of buckets right next to the rink that the kids were not allowed to use. It was a really disappointing outing for us (kids ages 3, 4, 5, and 6). Even though it’s much more crowded and expensive and a smaller rink, I’d recommend one of the “holiday” rinks like in union square where they are catering to amateurs (unless you already know how to skate).
Bridget, This is interesting and unexpected. Did you ask about the buckets? Are they reserved for parties or uhhh, I don’t know, something else?
Yes, we asked at the window where they provided the skates and at the front desk. The friends we went with actually got a pass to come back and try again (they cannot offer refunds) because her 3 yo could not do it alone and it was too tiring to carry her so they didn’t end up skating at all.
We did the Union Square rink this year as well and had the complete opposite experience. The employees there were so kind and went out of their way (even putting on my kids’ skates) to make sure we were having a good time. My son (4yo) skated all on his own with a giant penguin and had a blast. It was more crowded, though.