Key Stage 1 PE · Fundamental movement skills

KS1 jumping, hopping and skipping: a guide for parents

Jumping is one of the basic movements that children in Years 1 and 2 are taught to master in PE. It covers more than jumping up and down: children learn the difference between jumping, hopping and leaping, how to take off and land softly and under control, how to use their arms, and how to link jumps into short sequences. They begin to use these skills in games and challenges, often trying to beat their own best.

Jumping, hopping and skipping, explained

Teachers use different words for different movements, and children enjoy learning them. A jump takes off from one or two feet and lands on two. A hop takes off from one foot and lands on the same foot. A leap takes off from one foot and lands on the other, as when stepping over a puddle. Skipping and galloping are rhythmic patterns that combine steps with small hops. Knowing the words helps children follow instructions and describe what they have done.

The most important part of a jump is the landing. Children are taught to land on the balls of the feet and then let the heels come down, with knees bent like springs, feet about shoulder-width apart and arms out for balance. Teachers often ask for a “sticky landing”, meaning the child lands and holds still for a moment. This is a safety habit as well as a skill, and it is something children can practise on soft ground at home.

Lessons are built from simple challenges that children can do at their own level. They jump for distance and for height, forwards, backwards and sideways. They jump over low lines and ropes laid flat on the ground. They hop on each foot to see which is stronger. They also make shapes in the air, such as a star, a tuck or a stretch, and then land and freeze. Arms matter: swinging them back and then forward and upwards gives a jump much more power.

The curriculum asks pupils to become more competent and confident and to start applying basic movements in a range of activities. You may see jumps used in games, dances and obstacle courses. Children can compete against themselves (“can I jump further than last time?”) or work with a partner to copy a sequence of jumps. Schools choose their own activities, so what happens in your child’s class may differ from a friend’s, but the underlying skills are the same.

Words your child will hear

Jump: Pushing off the ground with one or two feet and landing on two feet.
Hop: Taking off from one foot and landing on the same foot.
Leap: A long step through the air, taking off from one foot and landing on the other.
Take-off: The moment and the push that starts a jump.
Landing: How you come back to the ground. A good landing is soft, balanced and still.
Skip: Stepping onto one foot and doing a small hop on it, then stepping onto the other foot and hopping on that, in a rhythm.
Personal best: Your own furthest or highest jump so far, which you try to beat.

What the National Curriculum says

The programme of study for Key Stage 1 says:

Pupils should be taught to master basic movements including running, jumping, throwing and catching, as well as developing balance, agility and co-ordination, and begin to apply these in a range of activities
Pupils should develop fundamental movement skills, become increasingly competent and confident and access a broad range of opportunities to extend their agility, balance and coordination, individually and with others.

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Try it: a standing long jump against yourself

How can your child practise jumping for distance and landing safely, and see their own progress?

Choose soft, flat ground such as grass or a carpeted room, and clear any hard or sharp objects. Use a skipping rope or a line of tape as the start line and make sure shoes are fastened, or jump in bare feet on grass.
Show the ready position: feet about shoulder-width apart with toes just behind the line, knees bent, arms swung back like wings ready to fly.
Swing the arms forwards and upwards while pushing off with both feet, and aim to jump out and slightly up, not straight up. Reach forwards with the legs at the end of the jump.
Land on both feet at once, with knees bent and arms out, then hold still for a count of three. This is the sticky landing. If your child falls over or steps, it does not count and they try again.
Mark where the heels landed with chalk or a spare sock. Measure from the start line to the mark in your child’s shoe lengths by laying one of their shoes down again and again, heel to toe, and write the number down.
Try again, choosing one thing to improve, such as “swing my arms harder” or “bend my knees more”. Compare the new number with the first.

For example, a first jump of 4 shoe lengths and a second of 5 shows an improvement of 1 shoe length. What matters is that your child can say what they changed, such as using their arms, and that the landing stayed balanced. If a landing was wobbly, a shorter jump with a good landing is better than a long jump that ends in a tumble.

Common mistakes and how to help

Landing with straight, stiff legs

Children are excited about the jump and forget about the landing, or they tense up because they are not sure the ground is where they expect it to be.

What helps: Practise small jumps and the sticky landing: “land like a spring, then freeze like a statue”. Keep landing surfaces soft and the jumps low.

Mixing up hopping, jumping and leaping

In everyday speech all of them are called jumping. The differences in take-off and landing feet are subtle for young children.

What helps: Play a naming game. Call out hop, jump or leap and let your child do it, then swap so they call it and you do it, getting it wrong sometimes so they can correct you.

Using only the legs

Arms feel separate from jumping to young children, and they tend to keep them down by their sides or waving randomly.

What helps: Say “arms back, arms up” on the count of three. Even a small arm swing makes the jump feel easier and further, which children notice quickly.

Struggling to skip, or skipping with the same foot every time

Skipping needs a rhythm of step and hop on alternate feet and the brain has to coordinate both sides. Many children find it much harder than running or jumping.

What helps: Build up gently: first gallop (one foot leads), then hop on each foot, then skip slowly while you say “step, hop, step, hop”. Plenty of children are still learning to skip well in Year 2, and that is normal.

How to help at home

Chalk hopscotch. Draw a simple path of squares on a safe, flat paved area. Hop on one foot in the single squares and land with one foot in each of the side-by-side squares. Number the squares to practise counting too.
Jump the river. Lay two ropes or scarves on the grass to make a river and ask your child to jump across. Move the banks further apart a little at a time, and talk about how they got ready.
Animal jumps. Frog and kangaroo jumps on two feet, flamingo hops on one leg, and giant leaps from one foot to the other over a pretend puddle. Ask your child to name each move and to land and freeze each time, so it feels like a game rather than a drill.
Wiggly snake. Lay a rope on the ground in a wavy line and ask your child to jump over it from side to side, then forwards along its length. Keep the rope on the floor and never swing it at your child’s head or feet.