Jumping rope has become a "lost" art, not to mention the "lost" physical benefits kids (and adults) can gain! Pay attention to your neighborhood tomorrow and for the rest of the week. How many kids do you see playing games with a jump rope? Maybe even two jump ropes? I looked for such groups of children playing all last summer and did not find one neighborhood with any children playing any kind of jump rope. It saddened me to think that maybe our society has become so "high-tech" that even the simplest of games for kids has become "old", " out of date", and too "difficult" to play at for any length of time.
I am here to bring it back!
Jumping rope is an "art", and a very old art at that! This "game" was one of the first that children played years ago. The twirling and jumping used energy, rhythm, and sound in the form of singing. If your child has never jumped or twirled a rope for others to jump, now is as good a time as any to start them off! First, get a rope, (of course you will need a person to jump and two people to each twirl the rope from each end) have the child get the rhythm of twirling their end of the rope along with another person at the other end. (Many times a child who cannot seem to jump for any length of time can twirl the rope for another to jump, and can learn themselves by watching this other person). This activity does wonders for our physical fitness and our hearts, and it's fun to-boot!
Following, I have included some rhymes and games that I remember playing when I was a little girl jumping rope. My sister and many of our little friends in the neighborhood would play jumprope for hours on end. (It relieves stress too, as any rhythm or movement with rhythm does.)
Teddybear, teddybear.
(For this, each jumper does the activity that the twirler indicates. The twirlers must start twirling the rope, and the jumper must "run in" without breaking the cycle of twirls.)
Teddybear, teddybear, turn around. Teddybear, teddybear, touch the ground. Teddybear, teddybear, on one leg. Teddybear, teddybear, touch the grave. (touch the ground)
Teddybear, teddybear, twirl your hair. Teddybear, teddybear, move over there. (move to the opposite side of where you are jumping) Teddybear, teddybear turn around.
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