Introducing my children to archery

[Westtrailed]

Question for the parents who have introduced the world of archery to your children. I want to get my kids into shooting bows. My daughter is 5 and my son is 3 1/2. In your guys/gals experience what age is appropriate? How do I go about this properly? Should I find an archery range that offers children lessons, so they don’t learn bad habits from my inexperienced self? I did buy them cheap Bear apprentice compound bows from Cabelas. (They haven’t shot them yet.) should they start with traditional bows. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[DanimalW]

At that age just make it fun for them. My daughter is 7 and can finally pull enough weight that the arrows actually stick in the target. As they get older, some lessons might be good. For some reason, they can sometimes be more receptive to coaching from a third party.

 

[venustical]

IMO, 8 is a good age too start. The main criterium is not so much strength, but the ability to understand and follow range safety rules.

 

[Venom One]

IMO, they'll let you know if/when they're interested. And I don't think I'd start before 8-ish.

 

[Mighty Mouse]

I built a crude bow for my 3 year old daughter using PVC pipe and paracord. We'll start working on form and hitting a target at some point, but for now she's just having fun lobbing arrows in the yard and learning to shoot in a safe direction.

 

[Rob5589]

I gave mine some basic instruction and let them have at it. Keep it low key and fun. I went to a local range with big bales. They can miss a stack of 3 hay bales from 10 feet, just fyi

 

[Jstumbaugh]

Our local instructor starts the young kids off with basic long bow/compounds that they can easily pull. No sights. Just fingers. Getting the feel for draw and shoot. He then advances them to using a sight pin and releases as their abilities improve. Keep it fun. My kids are a little older than yours and really enjoy shooting after going through this program. This past season they started competing at indoor NFAA shoots with the teaching program they joined.

 

[Beendare]

One word; balloons

Kids love shooting to pop balloons

 

[LostArra]

One word; balloons

Kids love shooting to pop balloons

^^^^ This
And distance contests.

I start all of my grandkids at 4-6yo with the same child recurve/longbow with No Glove finger pads. Recurve is so much lighter physically than any compound. I have found that when aiming is emphasized too early they do not come to full draw but when they shoot for distance, they are all launching Braveheart shots!

Traditional Youth Longbows | Traditional Kids Longbows | Elk Ridge Archery

Traditional Kids Longbows from Elk Ridge Archery. Longbows with absolutely beautiful, hand-crafted quality throughout. Built to the same quality standards as an adult bow, but made for younger archers. Offered in right and left handed models, different lengths and wood combinations for matching...

elkridgearchery.com

 

[Duh]

My sons 2 1/2 and has been coming with me to the range since he was a couple months old. I let him hold the binoculars, Allen wrenches, and “help” pull arrows out of targets. He’s always loved running around in the walk through range and looking at the animal targets. The word “bow” has been in his vocabulary since he could first start saying words.

I recently just bought him a little toy bow with plastic arrows and he’s addicted to that thing! We can’t go shooting without him taking his bow now. He doesn’t really care to shoot so much as he just wants to hold his bow and draw it while I’m shooting. Surprisingly, he can shoot some on his own already so I think he’s got the hang of it quickly.

I think the kid will tell you when they want to get into it. However, I’ve never left him at home when I go to the range our in the back yard range and I think that’s been the biggest factor of him liking it so far. He’s also got a wicked elk bugle already so I’d say we’re on the right track.

 

[butcherboy]

Started all 3 of my kids at 3 yrs old. Just kept passing down a green fiberglass bear archery kids bow. Each one has graduated to bigger and stronger bows as they grow. My boy shoots a compound with fingers still but will go to a new bow and release soon. Middle daughter still shoots her stalker recurve. Last daughter is still on the fiberglass bow. Each daughter is going to move up this year as well. Middle to a compound and last one to the stalker recurve. I started myself when I was about 4 or 5. My dad at the time was just starting archery as well. That was over 40 years ago.

 

[TSAMP]

This crossed my mind the other day. I've got an 8 year old shooting a cheap kids bow. I think its only 13 lbs. He enjoys it and we've discussed different techniques and safety but he's still just kind of winging it. Part of me thinks why do it if your not doing it correctly, but for now and given the equipment he is using it seems logical to just let them have fun.