Teach the FMS: Skipping!

Learning how to Skip (step-hop) is a key milestone in healthy childhood body and brain development, but it’s also a complex skill that involves:

🧠Activation of both sides of the body; 🕴️Balance; and 🤹Coordination…

ALL WHILE BEING PERFORMED IN MOTION🏃🏾‍♀️!

Here are foundational skills that you can practice with kids to help them learn how to SKIP!

Leg Separation 👉A child’s ability to activate each leg individually: Try: marching in place, crawling on the floor, or leaping from one leg to the other.

Single Leg Stance 👉a child’s ability to stand on one leg with their arms out to the side. Try: Flamingo Stance 🦩for 5-10 second holds. Challenge: toss a balloon to the child while they hold the position - they either catch it, or tap it back to you.

Hopping On One Leg 👉 the same foot takes off and lands on the floor. Try: hopping on one leg (assisted by a grown-up holding the child’s hand, or their hand on a wall) Make sure they can hop in place with both legs without assistance before moving on to the next stage.

Coordinated Alternate Hopping 👉The ability to hop only once on each foot, alternating, while on the spot. Try: Introducing the verbal cue “step-hop-step-hop” as the child alternates between right and left footed hops, without moving from their spot on the floor.

Add Forward Motion 👉👉Double Hop: Using a series of 12-24 pieces of tape on the floor, spaced 1.5 length of the child’s foot apart. teach the child to hop using the same foot over 2 lines, then switch feet for the next 2 lines.

👉Single Alternating Hop: progress the activity by showing the child how to step down between the lines with one foot (#1), then with that same foot, hop over the line into the next space (#2). Then, their other foot steps into the next space (#3), and using that foot they hop into the next space (#4).

Freespace/Freeplay 👉 the child explores the movement skill on their own Try: Use music with a rhythm that encourages a skipping pattern (Skip To My Lou) and continue reinforcing the Verbal coaching cue: “Step-Hop-Step-Hop” as you encourage the child to move about the space without looking at lines on the floor.

Add Movement Qualities 👉 the child performs the skill adding layers of complexity Try: Skipping… backwards, sideways, as you zig zag, as you turn, as you make your body BIG, as you make your body small, holding an object, holding someone else’s hand etc.

Get out there and get kids SKIPPING!

PSA: please remember, bunnies 🐇 and kangaroos 🦘 don’t HOP, they JUMP, so as you design your programs and choose themes/ imagery to support learning, make sure that what you say and what you show are aligned and correct.