Hi Breezers, I've been starting to push my 4 y old daughter into a few mini waves on an old 6'0 star foamie and was hoping to get some advice from any parents that might have been there before. The foamie has a pretty narrow nose and has a tendency to turn side on on any waves that have a bit of push which results in her getting rolled. at the stage she's at any decent dunking will take the fun right out of it so I'm considering going for either one of the newer foamies (which have a better shape) or maybe resort to a lid. I've got no experience with bodyboards so don't really know if it will do the same thing. Any recommendations on brands that won't break the bank would be appreciated too. Cheers

My kids love the stand up paddle boards super stable and we can both get on it to catch small waves

Foamie

The new ones at any non-surf surf shop work well. I can ride it between the flags too!

Got some better fins in the pipeline for it. Should rock. You know, in a foamie kinda fashion.

Foamie for sure.

Foamie or body board, whatever they like most. I have three sons 6, 8 and 10 who have all been in the surf for a few years now and all have their day when they just want to go on a boogie board. Today was blown out at our beach and they all had a blast with their friends catching party waves on cheap body boards. Foamies would have been useless today. In clean surf though, they would all rather grab a stand up. What are your predominant conditions at your beach. If it's mostly onshore waves then a body board might be the best option. We have tried many brands from Mambo cheapies at K-Mart, Big W etc., but have now discovered El Nino boards who make great foamies and Manta bodyboards. They run out of the same factory / warehouse in NSW and are great boards. I have even had some fun on the longer surfboards. They also make boards for surfschools which is what we bought last time. I have no link with this company but am happy with their product.
In the end, if what you purchase gets your kids in the waves then you are on to a winner.
Enjoy.

Do inflatable surf mats still exist? They were great fun when I was a kid in the surf. Two little fins at the back gave stability. Two handles at the front to hold onto. They were good as they were soft and also stable.

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Mobydisc said..
Do inflatable surf mats still exist? They were great fun when I was a kid in the surf. Two little fins at the back gave stability. Two handles at the front to hold onto. They were good as they were soft and also stable.

Yep, you can still get them from Big W.

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CrossStep said..

Mobydisc said..
Do inflatable surf mats still exist? They were great fun when I was a kid in the surf. Two little fins at the back gave stability. Two handles at the front to hold onto. They were good as they were soft and also stable.

Yep, you can still get them from Big W.

Probably the surf mats are fairly cheap so are worth a go.

Thanks for the comments people. Ive got a surf mat which she loves but was hoping to get her started early on the board. One of the problems is because she is so light the fins don't really dig in and the board keeps turning side on. It's really all about building her confidence in the surf and any pounding no matter how mild will get her scared and take the fun out it. JP the waves are predominantly tiny offshore closeouts at my local at this time of year which are useless for anyone except the smallest of groms.

I bought a mirage softboard 5'8 "grommet" from byron bay (google it) last summer for my 6 y o son.
But it was too wooobly for him even though he knew how to ride a skateboard already.
May be too much rocker. Its shaped as banana.
I think i should have bought rather size of minimal. 7'6 or something.
We could take turns. Would be fun for me to take it just for a paddle in small mushy waves

Surf mats with handles are great and still fairly cheap at $30-$50 new

$35 at KMart will buy you a skim board with handles that is a good multi-purpose toy for <8yr olds

>$220ish will get you a superb quality foam board from www.katanasurf.com/

I reckon at 4 yrs old most kids will be best with you as co-pilot. There are some that have "it" and can go it alone but that's maybe 5%. For the rest, get a BIG board that you can both lie on and catch small waves. The main aim is to get them to understand it is FUN and SAFE, sometimes if the go by themselves and stack it they will never want to do it again.

Good luck!!

My 7 year has been riding one of those cheap Mambo foamies this summer, and seems to be doing pretty well on it. I've had a bit of a crack on it and it's really easy to paddle, perfect for the kids.

That said, I managed to crease it early on while helping my son duckdive, hasn't effected it adversely though.