Explore the Hop
Skills:
Physical: coordinated hopping, balance, upper and lower limb coordination
Cognitive: sustained attention
Social: awareness of personal space
Number of participants:
1 or more
Equipment:
none
Description:
Children hop in different ways.
Examples:
-
- hop in place on right/left foot
- hop side-to-side
- hop forward
- hop backward
- hop forward and swing your arms
- hop forward and keep your arms still
- hop to the drumbeat
- hop 5 times in a row and change feet
- hop with hands on hips
- hop with hands behind head
- hop with arms straight out at the sides
- hop with arms straight out in front
- hop quickly
- hop slowly
- hop and turn in place
- hop while holding non-hopping leg
- hop-jump sequence
- hop with eyes closed
- hop forward in a straight line
- hop in place 10 times in a row then hop forward 10 times
- hop 3 times on one foot then switch
- hop without using arms
- hop in rhythm with a partner
- hop while bouncing a ball
- hop in different patterns on the floor
- hop softly
- hop back and forth over a line
- turn around while hopping in place)
Wheelchair friendly?
This activity might not be suitable for people who use wheelchairs. “Wheelchair Friendly Activities” has a list of activities that are easy to adapt for wheelchair users. This list isn’t exhaustive, so we invite you to come up with your own creative ideas to make any activity work for you. If you have an idea on how to make this or any other activity more accessible for wheelchair users, We’d love to hear your ideas on how to make this or any other activity accessible for wheelchair users. Thank you for helping make play more inclusive!
Modifications to make the activity easier:
Change the environment: have the child hold an adult’s hand for balance to decrease physical demand
Change the task: allow the child to take a rest break every 30 seconds to decrease physical demand
Modifications to make the activity harder:
Change the environment: have the child try the activity on a softer surface (i.e., grassy field) to increase physical demand
Change the task: challenge the child to create a sequence of different hops to increase cognitive and physical demand
Goal examples:
- I will be able to hop on one leg in one spot 10 times in a row for 2 out of 3 tries
- I can hop in different ways.
