My daughter is 8, and has been taking lessons for almost a year. She's started the latest session in Gamma. Her group lesson format is 30 min with instructor, 15 min free skate (individual practice/play time), 15 min entire rink (alpha-delta) comes together to do some rink-crossing practice (swizzles, lunges, what ever)
I have her dress in:
Non-cotton leggings, usually fleece lined or otherwise some flocked inner surface. They aren't ice skating pants or otherwise athletic-performance made , just a little bit thicker, lined department store/Target/Kohls type.
Down jacket (she's usually in her school uniform polo under that, often short-sleeved, but sometimes long sleeved)
Fleece mittens (they seem decently thick) with another set of polyester dollar-store mittens under that
Hat - sometimes she'll wear it, sometimes not
She doesn't fall much at this stage, and when she does, she's learned to brush off the "snow" from her pants. Occasionally, she'll man-handle with the "snow" when she finds a buddy also interested in doing so, so her gloves may or may not get soaked.
She says she's warm enough, but she's also not the most in-touch or expressive with her feelings, physical, emotional or otherwise. And sometimes she'll want to end early because she says she's cold.
Do you think she's dressed warm enough? I would think that her first half hour lessons aren't particularly sweat-building since they are working on a skill, and it's a lot of stop and go.
Do you think she would benefit with more typical ice-skating pants?
Is the down jacket a good idea? No rain (its indoor), so she should be good on insulation. I was thinking of getting her another jacket just because, so tips on what to look for would be appreciated (stay away from hood, or a hood is not a big deal because it's not like she's doing tons of spins, at least not fast, or down is fine for now, but might be too hot when she gets to xxx level, etc).
She's very petite (wears at best 6-6x, but could go to 4 or 5 if it weren't for length), so finding some of the nike/under armour performance clothes in her size has been challenging.