PLAYBuilder Brings You Three Fun Ways to Jump into Spring

As the days become longer and the weather gets better, we can begin to welcome spring with open arms. What better way to do so than getting your students moving, or even better, jumping?

PLAYBuilder is a digital library that offers 100s of fun games and activities to strengthen your students’ locomotor and non-locomotor skills. Jumping is an important skill for sports like basketball, long jump, high-kick ball and hundreds of others. 

Here are three great ways to build this locomotor skill: 

Jump the Pond 

Grades K-7

Equipment

Hula hoops

Setup

Place hula hoops zig-zagging up the playing area in sections.

Activity

• Demonstrate the proper form for a two-foot horizontal jump. Have participants practice their two-foot jump in a safe space.
• Place participants into groups of three and line up behind the first hoop in their section.
• Instruct participants that these circles are islands and they must jump from island to island to not fall in the “water”.
• If they fall in the water, participants do five jumps on the spot before getting back on the island they fell off. Emphasize that technique is more important than speed.
• As soon as the first participant is halfway through, the next participant can begin.
• When all participants make it to the other side, they turn around and try to make it back without falling in the water.
• While participants are waiting for their turn, have them balance or perform an exercise to increase movement.
• Ensure that participants use proper jumping form (knees bent, arms swinging back when crouched and forward when taking off, land softly on the balls of their feet followed by their heels, then the arms come back down).

Jump Tag 

Grades 1-7

Equipment 

• No equipment necessary!

Setup

• Leader picks several people to be taggers and gives them a pinnie to wear or a soft object to hold to signify them as taggers.
• Place several objects around the periphery that are various heights.

Activity

• If someone is tagged by a tagger they must find three different objects to jump over before they can join back into the game.
• Switch taggers every couple of minutes.
• Game continues until the teacher feels it’s appropriate.

Number Jump Race 

Grades 2-3

What you’ll need

• Number lines, floor tape, cones with numbers on them,  laminated number cards, chalk. 

Set-up 

• Have a number line for each pair of students.
• Students stand on each side of the number line, starting at zero.
• Give each student one dice.

Activity

• Students roll their dice at the same time.
• The number shown on their dice is how many jumps forward they make, ensuring to land on each number along the way.
• They continue this pattern until someone gets to 20 first and wins the game.

There are 100s of more great activities to play in the gym, out in the school-yard, or even in the classroom that you can access on PLAYBuilder. Sign up today for free as a B.C. educator! 

 

REGISTER FOR PLAYBUILDER