How it works
Two skippers face each other with only one holding the rope. Stand so you can just reach your partner's shoulders with straight arms. The skipper starts, and the bouncer joins in, jumping in time.
Face-to-face skipping is also the best way to help a child who is struggling to skip. Lee’s tips for pupils who are struggling to skip.
skip-hop tipBoth stay on the spot and keep the same rhythm and speed. Any change and it fails.
Why partner skipping matters
skip-hop coach Lee Collinson-James has used partner skipping for 25 years to help children learn to skip. It’s the doorway that unlocks the mystery of turning a rope and jumping, and putting the two together. It can give a child their first ever experience of being inside a turning rope, and their first step towards understanding how a moving rope and bouncing feet fit together.
Partner skipping is surely one of the most effective ways to develop children’s physical health and spatial awareness. None of it is possible without the three C’s: cooperation, coordination, concentration.
It is that eureka, “I can do it” moment that can make the most reticent child into an active teenager. I have first-hand experience of this: lifelong adult skippers.
For a child who is struggling to skip, start face to face with them: Lee’s tips for SEND pupils and young skippers.
Teach face to face partner skipping with the All-Access Skip Pass
Everything a teacher needs to teach this skill to a whole class, from the skip-hop team:
- The skip-hop video of this skill, with a close-up and ½× and ¼× slow motion
- Step-by-step teaching for skipper and bouncer
- Spot the fault, with the fix
- A pupil self-check and a link to the Blue Award
£149 a year for the whole school, or 6 months free with the whole-school rope set.
Where it fits
Face to face partner skipping: Blue Award
Blue Award: Tricks
Part of the Blue Award test.
To pass, a pupil:
- Performs 4 beginner tricks (straddle, scissors, ex, slalom or bell), 4 skips each
- Skips 10 face to face with a partner in one rope
- Sets a 30-second score and beats it
Also a related skill for the Green Award.
In the scheme of work
Where this skill is taught in the skip-hop scheme of work.
- LKS2Lesson 4: Partner skippingSkills and Tricks · Years 3 and 4
- LKS2Lesson 6: Award day: Blue and PurpleSkills and Tricks · Years 3 and 4
- UKS2Lesson 4: Team skillsTricks, Teams and Double Dutch · Years 5 and 6
What you need
A longer rope gives two skippers room. skip-hop ropes are designed specifically for the skills shown on this site.
SEND and inclusion
Make it work for everyone
Ideas for pupils with SEND, and for anyone who finds face to face partner skipping hard. Change one thing at a time.
What usually makes it hard: Two people jumping in one rope, in time.
- PeopleLet the pupil choose their partner.
- CommunicationThe skipper counts out loud so the bouncer can join in.
- EquipmentA longer KS3 rope (2.8 m) gives more room.
Seated or no-jump version. The pupil in the wheelchair turns the rope and counts while a partner jumps in front.
An adapted pass is still a pass on the Skipping Awards. Use your own judgement and each pupil’s care plan. More in SEND and inclusion at skip-hop. Pupil struggling to get started? Try Lee’s tips for pupils who are struggling to skip.