Seal Hop
Skills:
Physical: coordinated hopping, balance, upper and lower limb coordination
Cognitive: auditory processing
Social: awareness of personal space
Number of participants:
small groups
Equipment:
none
Description:
- children spread out throughout the playing area. The leader is the hunter; the children are the seals
- children perform the following actions based on the call from the leader:
- Hop: hop on one foot
- Seal: assume a seal-like position
- Hunt: balance on one foot
History:
The Seal Hop is a race where competitors move from a starting to a finishing line in a seal-like position. This seal-like position is a lowered push-up with hands flat on the floor at a 45-degree angle and foot placed over the other foot. Competitors travel using only their hands and toes keeping this position throughout the race. The competitor who can keep this position and travel the distance first 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 environment: Have the leader give only one command to decrease cognitive demand
Modifications to make the activity harder:
Change the environment: have a spot to which the child needs to hop when the leader calls ‘hop’ to increase physical and cognitive demand
Goal examples:
- I will be able to hop 10 times continuously on one foot when the leader calls ‘hop’ within two-weeks
- I can balance and hop on one leg
