Nursery World - Enabling Environments: Post-walking skills

Hopping and skipping are challenging skills to master. Here, Dr
Lala Manners looks at how they emerge and offers ideas for supporting
their development.

Hopping and skipping are useful - though not essential - locomotor skills. More complex and physically challenging to perform well than either walking or running, they nevertheless form the basic moves for many folk dances and playground games and are an integral component of a range of racket sports and martial arts.

Hopping is the first of the two skills to emerge. Generally, by 40 months children can hop once on their preferred leg. By 60 months, they can perform ten continuous hops and may also be able to travel forwards by 2-3 metres.

Hopping is a physically demanding action because the same leg must be used for take-off and landing. Significant strength, balance, co-ordination and timing is essential if the action is to be performed successfully.

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