"The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there" ~Zechariah 8:5

We are passionate about nurturing wellness in homeschool families and have seen in our journey the positive results of exercise in both us and in our children. We have also experienced how hard it can be to add P.E. activities into already packed homeschool plans.

Do you struggle adding physical activity to your days while believing that it is one of the most important aspects in a your child's life? We felt the same way and are here to help with reasons and ideas to add jump rope activities to your homeschool plans. 

Research abounds with how even just a few minutes a day of outside exercise increases focus, helps with stress relief, and more. Even so, devoting time to PE within the academic rigor can still feel like it isn't worth it. However, it will actually help in dealing with the demands of the day, and so we are giving a few reasons why you want to use it in your daily lessons and how you can seamlessly integrate it using jump rope activities (and no actual rope is required!).

Our ideas here come from one of our favorite activities to do with kids, jumping rope. We have been teaching jump rope class in homeschool co-ops for several years and lead an online jump rope team where beginners who've never jumped before quickly go from mastering the basics without a jump rope in hand to advancing to multiple types of tricks. In one semester of classes, some of these same beginner jump ropers even started inventing their own tricks! Watch this video of one of our students showing off an advanced trick he learned. He started in the class as a beginner and made extreme gains in areas like coordination and rhythm. And the best part, seeing the look of pure joy on these children’s faces made us believers that jumping rope is a worthy investment of time and energy, just like this research article recommends.

The Benefits of Jump Rope

Jump rope isn't just child's play; it's a fantastic cardiovascular workout that offers a wide range of benefits for kids of all ages. From improving mental focus, coordination and balance to enhancing cardiovascular endurance, jumping rope covers all the bases. Here are some compelling reasons to incorporate it into your homeschool PE curriculum:

#1 Benefit of Jump Rope: Cardiovascular Health: Jumping rope gets the heart pumping and the blood flowing, which is essential for overall cardiovascular health. It's an effective way to improve stamina and lung capacity, setting your kids up for a lifetime of fitness.

#2 Benefit of Jump Rope: Coordination and Balance: Jump rope requires rhythm, timing, and coordination between the hands and feet. Regular practice can help improve motor skills and enhance balance, which are crucial for other physical activities.

#3 Benefit of Jump Rope: Full-Body Workout: Unlike some exercises that focus on specific muscle groups, jump rope engages the entire body. It's a fantastic way to build strength in the legs, core, and upper body.

#4 Benefit of Jump Rope: Bone Health: Jumping rope is a weight-bearing activity, which means it can contribute to strong bone development in children, reducing the risk of osteoporosis later in life.

#5 Benefit of Jump Rope: Mental Focus: Mastering jump rope techniques involves concentration and mental focus, helping kids improve their cognitive skills and concentration.

BONUS: Music makes everything more fun -- also consider adding claps, snaps, classic nursery rhymes, or specific jump rope/hand clap chants to boost kids' rhythm and phonological awareness skills. This is also the perfect time for drill and practice from content areas like math facts, alphabet, or any other memorization piece.

For the basic skills outlined below, no jump rope is necessary. That's right kids have fun using their "invisible jump ropes" and no household items or family members are harmed in the making of a jump rope session;). These ideas can be added into the day when going from one subject to the next, before or after snacks/lunch, and/or at an extended timeframe devoted specifically to PE. This is great brain work in a fun, easy format that will keep them motivated. It may even be enjoyable for you, homeschool mom!

First Basic Skill: Invisible Jump Rope. Hold your hands out to your sides and make fists as if you're holding on to jump rope handles. Ta da! There is your invisible jump rope. Add in the movement of your arms and coordinate it with the hops of your feet. Your kids (and even YOU) can jump rope anywhere in safety with their invisible jumprope and they'll never misplace it;).

Second Basic Skill: Use a line/crack/tape on the ground. Find or create a perfectly placed crack in the pavement, grout line in your kitchen, draw your own line with sidewalk chalk or lay one down with removable painter's tape. Stand on one side of the line then hop back and forth, up and down the line. Amp it up by adding a hopscotch pattern.

Third Basic Skill: Skip Tape: This stretchy band began as a game in China and goes by various names around the world. Make your own using a soft stretchy elastic or even a bed sheet tied into a circle. It’s meant for three people, but can be modified by attaching one side of the circle to a stable pole or chair. Check out videos of how to use it on our Homeschool P.E. Pinterest Board.

The goal for these three activities is to master a basic hop with a steady rhythm. Once mastered, encourage them to get creative and start to try advanced moves and tricks that can eventually be applied when jumping with a real rope. 

Try all three ways to easily add jumping rope as physical education into your homeschool day.  Whether inside or out for a little added fresh air and sunshine, we think you’ll be surprised by the energy a child can burn off using these techniques.

Conclusion:

We hope jumping rope becomes part of your homeschool day and you see your kids thrive as they increase not only their physical health but, their ability to focus and sustain mental effort as they more efficiently complete educational tasks. Enjoy the big smiles and laughs that jump rope brings and if you're interested in our jump rope class offerings let us know on this contact form. We hope to jump with you and yours soon!

We pray this blesses you. Reach out via email with any questions to [email protected]

Be empowered,

Kim & Jenny

This article was written with care by us, real humans. No AI invited.😜❤️️

Need help and concrete examples to add this to your homeschool plans? Meet with us and we'll give you answers. We have support in our online community of homeschool moms at weekly virtual calls and on our private message forum. We also offer monthly one-on-one strategy calls and mama-teaching technique workshops. Gather with us around The Well.⛲