Some children find skipping hard to get going. Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 pupils who are still learning, and pupils with SEND who are struggling to coordinate their arms and feet, have a lot to take in at once: a moving rope, timing, space and direction. skip-hop coach Lee Collinson-James has a tried and tested method he comes back to every time, and it takes nothing but you, one rope and a few minutes: face-to-face partner skipping.
You can achieve so much, and when I say you, I mean the teachers can achieve so much, by face-to-face partner skipping with the children who are struggling.
How face-to-face partner skipping works
You hold the rope and turn it. The child stands facing you and just jumps. All the hard work of getting the rope over and timing it to the jump is yours, so the child only has to do one thing.
- Arm’s length apart. Stand the child in front of you, facing you, about an arm’s length away.
- Get them jumping first. Ask them to jump up and down. Let them do four, five or six jumps before the rope moves.
- A little higher than usual. Ask for jumps slightly higher than you would if they were skipping on their own. The extra height helps. Not too fast, not too slow.
- Bring the rope in to their rhythm. Now turn the rope over their head and fit it into the rhythm they are already jumping. You match them, not the other way round.
- Keep the double bounce going. Once the rope has gone under them, it’s a two-to-one ratio: two jumps, one turn of the rope. You jump too, so you stay in time together, and keep going.
Say “jump” with them
If the child is nervous, start again and get them jumping. Look them in the eye and say “jump, jump, jump, jump” in time with whatever rhythm they are doing. They lock on to your voice and concentrate on it. Hearing the word match their own jump makes them feel comfortable and part of something, as if they are already joining in. Keep them jumping, and keep saying it.
What children do, and what to do about it
Lee says the secret, and the art, of face-to-face skipping is being ready for what the children are going to do. Expect all three of these:
- They stop and cower. The second your arms move, some children close their eyes, curl up and stop jumping, because they think the rope is going to hit them. Don’t worry. Just start again.
- They speed up. Others don’t stop, but their jumps suddenly get lower and faster when they see your arms move. Be ready to speed the rope up to match them.
- They move backwards. If they step back six inches, you step forward six inches. You may end up following them across the hall or the playground. They will start laughing, someone might fall over, and it’s all great fun. It doesn’t matter: start again.
They’re going to stop, they’re going to speed up, and they’re going to move. But after three or four attempts, they feel very comfortable in the rope.
The rope won’t hurt them
This is worth knowing, and worth telling them. If a skipping rope does catch someone, it’s almost always on the heel, right where the sole meets the floor, or on the toes, again where the sole meets the floor. Nobody gets seriously hurt by a rope hitting their trainers. Once children realise this, they start to relax, and that’s when it starts to work.
Who should turn the rope?
- Reception and Year 1: while children are still learning to skip, there probably won’t be another child in the room who can do it, so it’s down to you or a teaching assistant.
- Year 2 to Year 6: once the child has relaxed, find a competent skipper in the class to be their partner. It frees you up, and it’s a good job for a confident skipper.
Trust me, it is a eureka moment for that child when they eventually manage to skip.
The next step: backwards skipping
When the child is jumping comfortably with you, give them a rope of their own and let them try backwards skipping. Here’s why. In face-to-face skipping the rope travels forwards for the person turning it, but for the partner jumping it, the rope comes from in front and travels backwards. It is backwards skipping for them. They have been practising it all along without knowing.
So once they’ve got that, give them a rope, let them try some backward skipping. The progress they’ll make will blow your mind.
Where this fits on skip-hop
- The skill on its own: face-to-face partner skipping.
- Next steps: backwards skipping (double bounce), then forward skipping double bounce.
- The Early Years unit for Reception and the Key Stage 1 unit for Years 1 and 2, working towards the White, Yellow, Orange and Green Awards.
- More ideas for adapting any skill: SEND and inclusion at skip-hop and adapting skipping for every child.
Use your own judgement and each pupil’s care plan. An adapted pass is still a pass on the Skipping Awards.