Hopping on one foot demonstrates a child has improved their gross motor skills, has found their center of balance, and has developed sufficient strength and coordination.
How to work on hopping on one foot:
- Show child how to stand on one foot. Make it fun and silly.
- Face your child and let them hold your hands as they hop. As the child’s ability improves, give them less and less support.
- Hold a stick horizontally in front of the child and allow them to use it as a light support as they hop forward.
- Choose how many times to hop and have the child choose a number, and hop that many times on one foot then the other.
- Have child hop from one foot to the other to the tune of a fun song (while you’re doing the same, of course).
- Play games that requires child to hop on one foot. Hopscotch is a good one!
- Hop on different surfaces for a greater challenge too.
- Have the child choose a number to hop in a row , or you can also choose a number. Then hop that many times on one foot, then the other foot.
