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Hopping on one leg

Hopping on one leg. Try two, three or four hops on one leg, then switch to the other. Great for balance.

Individual skill

Also called Hopping

Yellow Award · Rope ReadyBronze Award
Suitable for Reception to Year 1Speed skipping ropes

How it works

Hopping on one leg. Try two, three or four hops on one leg, then switch to the other. Great for balance.

skip-hop tipAlways swap legs. Don't just use the one you find easiest.

All-Access Skip Pass

Teach hopping on one leg with the All-Access Skip Pass

Everything a teacher needs to teach this skill to a whole class, from skip-hop coach Lee Collinson-James:

  • The skip-hop video of this skill, with ½× and ¼× slow motion
  • Step-by-step teaching, from the first two hops to both legs
  • Why hopping is so good for balance, leg strength and the core
  • A pupil self-check and links to the Yellow and Bronze Awards
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£149 a year for the whole school, or 6 months free with the whole-school rope set.

Where it fits

Learn firstForward skipping double bounce
This skillHopping on one leg
Try nextBoxer
skip-hop Skipping Awards

Hopping on one leg: Yellow Award and Bronze Award

Yellow Award · Rope Ready

Yellow Award: Rope Ready

Part of the Yellow Award test.

To pass, a pupil:

  • Runs under a turning long rope (Under the Moon)
  • Hops five times on each leg (without a rope)
  • Holds the handles of their own rope and swings it over the head
  • Swings, stops and jumps their own rope 5 times (not continuous skipping)
Bronze Award

Bronze Award

This skill is a preliminary skip for the Bronze Award.

The skills on this award:

  • First: the Safety and Poise checks and the preliminary skips
  • Bell
  • Slalom
  • Twister
  • Side straddle
  • Front straddle (scissors)
  • Combined straddle
  • Ex
  • Wounded duck
  • Side swing
  • 180 degree turn
  • Then the link: any 8 of the 10 skills linked in one routine, without a miss or error.

Also a related skill for the Orange Award.

In the scheme of work

Where this skill is taught in the skip-hop scheme of work.

What you need

Speed skipping ropes, bag of 10

KS1 2.1m, KS2 2.5m or KS3 2.8m. skip-hop ropes are designed specifically for the skills shown on this site.

Shop ropes

SEND and inclusion

Make it work for everyone

Ideas for pupils with SEND, and for anyone who finds hopping on one leg hard. Change one thing at a time.

What usually makes it hard: Balance and leg strength.

  • TaskStart with two hops, then build up. Let the pupil choose the stronger leg first, then swap.
  • PeopleHold a partner’s hand, or stand by a wall, to hop without the rope first.
  • SpaceA soft, non-slip surface.

Seated or no-jump version. Swing the rope to one side only, then the other: a one-sided version of the skill.

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.