Jump Rope Exercises for Kids
If you are in your mid or late 20s and above, you'll identify with what I'm about to say to you. Remember how we used to jump ropes, play hop scotch, ring the hula hoops round and round (OK maybe it was just the girls), climb trees and ride our bicycles all day through? Also, so many other things that kept us out the whole evening and made up most of our summer break? I look back with such fond memories to that, you know? Maybe you do too. When I look at the children of today, I don't find they have as much fun as we did. Maybe I'm biased, but with the entry of video games and the Internet, their time has been divided into virtual and physical games and the effects are pretty apparent for the world to see. The children of today are prone to obesity and several other ailments that were not common in the least about two decades ago.
So what's to be done about this problem? More stress has to be laid on introducing physical activities in their routine. But here's the deal to make it even more interesting, don't make it seem like it's some exercise routine. Instead make it seem like a game, like it is something fun to do. In that direction, then, jump rope exercises is a great way to go. It's fun, demands high energy levels and is thus a great solution to what you need to get done. In this following section we will give you some of the most effective jump rope exercises for kids that you can use and get them to work out like crazy.
Jump Rope Exercise Routines
Jump rope is one of the simplest ways of introducing your kids to the concept of fitness and all while having a whole lot of fun. Jump rope exercises lead to an all-body cardio workout which gets the fat burning, and makes for one of the best ways to keep fit. One of the other advantages is that there are several interesting and innovative ways of going about the varied jump rope workout routines. Let's get you some of these exercises right about now.
Skipping by Oneself
You'd think that there's just the basic skipping step that you can take through with a jump rope, but that is just not true. There are several innovations that you can bring about with the jump rope. First, make sure that your kid has mastered the skipping technique so that there are no problems later.
Invent games like the fastest time to reach a hundred counts or the maximum counts that he/she can do without stopping. Add on techniques like jumping with switching legs instead of both at the same time. Try the front skipping technique instead of bringing it from the back to the front. These techniques increase the levels of difficulty and work more muscles.
Obstacle Course
Another way to combine both fun and exercise is an obstacle course. Gather all the kids from the neighborhood. If you have a backyard, then all the better to work with. Now set up an obstacle course that focuses mainly on the different ways in which jump rope can be used. Like tying both ends of the rope at a height and making them jump over it, or getting them to jump a certain number of rounds before proceeding to the next obstacle. One can also get them to do a ladder jump which means that the jump rope is kept flat on the ground and the kids jump from one end to the other in a crisscross fashion by lifting both their legs at the same time.
One can even have them work in partners with this idea. What heightens the fun is that there are the high levels of excitement that come with a setup like this. Plus the fact that you can mix a lot of activities with this format.
Avoid the Snake
Have two kids crouch and hold the ends of the rope in their hands. They then have to twist the rope around so that it wriggles like a snake. At the whistle, the kids start to jump, the objective of the game is to avoid the jump rope touching oneself. If it does, then the person is disqualified and the other takes turns jumping. The kid with the maximum time, wins.
Hopscotch and Skipping
So we all know the basic hopscotch game, all one does now is switch the hopping with jumping rope. Every time you throw a rock and it lands in the square, you proceed to the next one by jumping rope and getting to the other one. If your legs touch the ground before getting to the next square then a kid is disqualified.
These were some of the most effective jump rope exercises for kids that you can use to teach kids a little about fitness and exercises, and let them have fun while doing it. With these skipping rope exercises in the picture, they won't really be getting bored. Don't you just want to be young all over again?
