Kneel Jump
Skills:
Physical: balance, upper and lower limb coordination, agility, power
Cognitive: selective attention, sustained attention, visual processing
Social: awareness of personal space
Number of participants:
2 or more
Equipment:
- skipping ropes
Description:
- children are asked to walk or run around an area
- when instructor calls “freeze”, children must quickly kneel, return to standing, travel to a set of lines, and jump over the ice to the other side (rope = ice)
History:
The Kneel Jump was often used by hunters to prepare to survive the harsh conditions they could face on land or ice (Yukon Aboriginal Sports Circle, 2012). This would prepare them to move quickly if the ice was going to break, force them to jump over water, and return to land. The first person to jump the greatest distance from a kneeling position to landing on both feet and maintaining balance is the winner.
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 task: have the child hop over the ‘ice’ and land on two feet to decrease physical demand
Change the environment: decrease the distance between skipping ropes (decrease the size of the ‘ice’) to decrease physical demand
Modifications to make the activity harder:
Change the task: have the child jump over the ‘ice’ from a kneeling position to increase physical demand
Change the environment: time how long each child takes to complete the task to encourage them to move more quickly than their previous attempt to increase physical, cognitive, and social demand
Goal examples:
- the child will be able to jump over the ‘ice’ to land and stay still for 10 seconds for 3 out of 5 tries
- I can jump over the ‘ice’
