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9 year old daughter has asked for a bow and arrow set for xmas.
The advice a few years ago appears to be join a club. This is not possible as all the hours outside of school are already full of ballet, cheerleading, parties etc. Archery appeals to me more than the arts!
https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/what-proper-bow-arrow-set-for-a-6-year-old-girl/
Is there anything better than this for the money?
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/archery-set-soft-archery-100/_/R-p-302266?mc=8505629
thanks
We've had the decathlon stuff for a couple of years and it's survived. The target (slightly different design to the one linked) had drooped backwards a bit but we just prop something behind it.
Weve got the decathlon set and its great
We also use them in our Cub group and have several sets
lots of fun!
The Decathlon one is great, we have an almost identical set from either Lidl or Aldi, I forget which, but obviously they're only available there once a year or so.
we've also got the decathlon set (bought it after our kids played with the same one another family brought camping) and it works well, kinda pricey for a limited attention span is the only downside
Before I even opened this thread I thought of the Decathlon stuff – glad everyone else agrees.
“You’ll have someone’s eye out with that”
We’ve got the Aldi (Crane) version at home and half a dozen of them at Cubs. They seem to last quite well. The kids like them and they make a satisfying “THUNK” noise when the adults have a go.
I got my 6 year old niece an English longbow made for her size.
Whatever you get make sure it actually can shoot the arrows it comes with. Seen a young girl being put off archery for good because her dad had for her a bow that coulent actually shoot the arrows they used, so she never got close to hitting anything.
We've got the Aldi/Lidl eqivalent and its great. What can possibly go wrong?
Thanks all - that is as close to STW unanimous as I have ever seen.
Decathlon / Lidl / Aldi hit the bullseye with only a glimmer of an Artesian mention.
The Decathlon one is great. Older people can stand 30m back and lob the arrows, it's great fun.
I got my 6 year old niece an English longbow made for her size.
Whatever you get make sure it actually can shoot the arrows it comes with. Seen a young girl being put off archery for good because her dad had for her a bow that couldn't actually shoot the arrows they used, so she never got close to hitting anything.
There’s a whole bunch of issues to unpack here. Children really shouldn’t be using anything like a real bow anywhere other than at a club and under proper supervision. The issue with the bow not being able to shoot the arrows supplied would have been picked up by experienced archers. There’s a whole bunch of things that could be responsible, up to and including the arrows being the wrong length, then there’s the way she held the bow, the way she stands, posture, etc…
A wood bow, shooting wood arrows with anything like a point is a dangerous weapon, and just having arrows that are even slightly too short could result in an arrow going through the hand holding the bow, as was pointed out to me while I was drawing an arrow on one of the four bows I went through while working up to the point I was competent enough to actually buy my own.
In that instance, I was drawing a 26” arrow on a bow with a 26 lb draw. I went up to a 28” arrow, 28 lb draw on a 68” bow
Having been measured up at Wales Archery, my bow is 70”, shooting a 31.5” arrow at 33 lb draw. A bow/arrow/target setup like the Decathlon one is the absolute best thing for youngsters, perfect for a garden, and pretty much impossible for anyone/thing to get hurt, including pets!
I did archery at school, where there was loads of space for targets to be set out, and I’ve still got my Slazenger bow; it’s a 5’ bow, draws 17 lb with a 24” arrow, I’d snap the thing in two attempting to draw it now! 🤣
After around three months, I’m barely even starting out - I’ve got so much to learn going forward.
Have you a cat ?
CountZero.
Well done for over reaction of the day.
What makes you think my niece is not being supervised or in a club?
Girl being put off archery was all about the bow her dad had got her from Decathlon with non matching arrows and had been shooting it at home until she got to the club.
And i will raise your 70" and 33lb to 79" and 90lb
Glad you like archery its great 🙂
Joining a club is a good idea, but as you say it's hard to fit in. My daughter (since she was 8) has had one (actually 2 now) of those very dangerous bows with the pointy bits which we bought from our local archery shop. She was in a weekly session but it closed for COVID and never reopened. We now have a target and a net set up to catch errant arrows at home. No one has died as yet.
Lapsed field archer here.
I saw the Decathlon sets in, uh, Decathlon a few years back. I initially scoffed, then had a bit of a play in the store and it turns out that they're a right giggle.
You have a choice here I suppose. Does she want a toy, or does she want to learn archery? I'm not child-friendly so I've no idea about age-appropriateness but if it's the latter then what you need there is an archery club (which is kinda tricky to wrap for Christmas).
If it were me I'd be strongly leaning towards the Decathlon kit or similar, with a view to joining a local club if the novelty hasn't worn off by the new year.
Aside, CZ, I would be very interested indeed to hear how you were "measured up." Being the opinionated asshole that I am I have some views here, but it's a long old time since I last shot outside of nonsense like stag do events so wisdom may well have moved on.
In that instance, I was drawing a 26” arrow on a bow with a 26 lb draw. I went up to a 28” arrow
Should have gone 27.5" arrow. Brings the targets alive.
+1 for the Decathlon ones for garden use, my kids get a lot of use out of it. Pick up some spare arrows, and don't leave them out overnight, something (maybe foxes) like chewing them enough to break the sucker on one of them.
We’ve got the Aldi (Crane) version at home and half a dozen of them at Cubs.
Same here. I use a damp sponge to wipe the suckers at regular intervals. Balance an empty cereal box on top of the target and see if you can knock it off. Also, for cubs get them to try sitting on a chair (feet off the ground) so they get an idea of how much harder it is for wheelchair archers.
Has any body tried the decathlon moving target, or made their own??
At Cubs we set up additional targets. Tennis ball on top of a cone, tin cup on a shelf, that sort of thing. We assigned them with points higher than the values on the target and made a competition out of it. This was a few years ago and, IIRC, there was a conker on a chair at the other end of the room worth 5,000,000,000 points and someone managed to hit it.
As mentioned above the target needs a wipe down and we give the arrow sucker things a dip in warm water and a clean every now and then.
At Cubs we set up additional targets. Tennis ball on top of a cone,
I helped with an archery attraction for a charity fundraiser one year. Usual fare, 50p for three arrows or whatever. We set up a prize shot, we got a polystyrene mannequin head and stuck an apple on top of it. It was wildly successful, we raised a fortune from wannabe William Tells.