If your child wants to skateboard—or you miss your own flip-and-grind days and want to introduce them to it—finding safe places for kids to skate when they’re learning is important.
You can opt for skateboarding lessons for beginners through advanced skaters, and drop by one of the indoor or outdoor skateparks listed below for practice or to dust off your own tricks!
Skateboarding Lessons, Camps, and Schools
CJ Skateboard Park & School
Nearly all of the city’s indoor skateparks have closed in recent years (though teens are lobbying for a new one in Whitby), so in winter, CJ Skateboard Park is the place to be. But it’s an excellent skate spot for kids year-round, too, with introductory programs for ages 5–14, plus beginner, intermediate, and advanced skills programs. They also offer summer camps and school-break camps, plus a Coach-in-Training program for teens.
It’s also open for drop-in skating daily.
Details:
60 Horner Ave., Etobicoke
416-259-6888
cjskateboardpark.com
Evolve Skateboard Camp and Lessons
Evolve offers summer day camps and fall lessons for kids at all skill levels. They travel to various skateboard parks around the city, giving kids an opportunity to test their skills in different environments. You can book a skateboarding birthday party, too!
Details:
416-619-4521
evolveskatecamp.com
Newmarket Youth Sk8park
If you live in Newmarket, you’re lucky enough to have this fantastic youth skatepark at your doorstep. Register for lessons for beginners to intermediate youth skaters year-round. They have drop-in skate times, too.
Details: 56 Charles St., Newmarket
905-953-5120
www.newmarket.ca/thingstodo
Town of Oakville Lessons and Camps
The Town of Oakville’s Culture & Recreation department offers reasonably priced skateboading lessons (fall and spring) and skateboarding summer camps in the 14,000-square-foot Shell Park, with 26 cement ramps. Registration is required.
Details:
Shell Skatepark, 3307 Lakeshore Rd. W., Oakville
905-845-6601
oakville.ca/culturerec
Skateparks
City of Toronto Skateparks
The city provides 13 skateboard parks across the city. Access is free. Toronto Parks, Forestry & Recreation provides descriptions of each skatepark online, with photos and skill levels.
Some favourites of skaters—all are appropriate for beginner to intermediate levels:
Beach Skatepark (Ashbridges Bay Park, Lake Shore Blvd. E. and Coxwell Ave.), the largest concrete skatepark in Ontario, is a plaza-style street skatepark, with ledges, banks, stairs, rails, hubbas and gaps, plus a big 11-foot-deep kidney-shaped-pool-replica bowl.
Cummer Skatepark (6000 Leslie St.), which simulates street structures with rails, stairs, curbs, and a small bowl.
Dunbat Skatepark (275 Bathurst St.), open spring through fall, which is redesigned and rebuilt annually by local skateboarders.
Eight Street Skatepark (160 Eighth St., Etobicoke), opened in 2011, with quarterpipes, banks, stairs, rails, ledges, manual pads and granite capped hubbas and a small peanut-shaped bowl.
Ellesmere Skatepark (20 Canadian Rd.), a flow-style park with quarterpipes, ledges, banks, stairs, rails, hubbas and manual pads.
Underpass Park is a great rainy-day park, opened in 2012, and located under the Eastern Avenue overpass at River Street.
Vanderhoof Skatepark (135 Vanderhoof Ave.) is popular for its large U-shaped bowl that ranges from 5 feet to 9 feet deep.
CJ Skateboard Park & School
Open year-round, this indoor facility is open daily for public skateboarding (membership required) and has Sunday Family Skate times. It also has an onsite pro shop and snack bar. They do birthdays, too!
Read about the school’s lessons and camps above.
Details:
60 Horner Ave., Etobicoke
416-259-6888
cjskateboardpark.com
Inflow Bike and Skatepark
Though it’s just outside the GTA in Dundas (near Hamilton), Inflow has indoor skating in winter, so it’s worth a trek if you’ve got a serious skater on your hands. They have a weekly Youth Night for ages 13 and under. Call for info about the Beginner’s Club and birthday parties.
Details:
1 Head St., Dundas
905-628-6596
www.inflowpark.com
Newmarket Youth Sk8park
It’s not convenient to downtown Toronto, but the Newmarket Sk8park is a great indoor skatepark for kids with drop-in skateboarding times for kids ages 12 and under, with separate times for ages 13+. You can also register for lessons.
Details:
56 Charles St., Newmarket
905-953-5120
www.newmarket.ca/thingstodo
Check out more sports for kids in our Toronto & GTA sports for kids directory
Thanx for sharing! I was also looking for used skateboards. Got lot of information. Will order soon.