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    Boys Skipping
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    Girls do some complicated skipping moves
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Miscellaneous Physical Play Skipping

Functions
Jumping Game, Physical Play, Play with Equipment/Props and Skipping Game
Alternative Names
  • Aeroplane (At School 06)
  • Firecracker (At School 10)
  • Helicopter (At School 08 and School 12)
  • Queen B (At School 08)
  • Sausages in a Pan (At School 13)
  • Wiggly Snake (At School 19)

Skipping can be played with short or long ropes, and there are a variety of games that children play.

Details

At School 16

Players: 5+
Boys and Girls
Age: 6-8
Props: Long Skipping rope

Children were using a long rope for skipping. Rhyme: Ready, Spaghetti, Bolognaise Go was chanted before the actual skipping started. Then as the child skipped in the middle the alphabet was chanted. When the skipper was out, another took his/her place.

A group of boys were quite competitive in their skipping activities, in trying to outdo each other with a variety of movements eg peppers, crossovers etc.

Children also played a game called rotating rope, which was deemed by the teachers to be too dangerous.

At School 09

Players: 2 (AND 1 ADULT)
Girls
Age: 6-7
Props: Long and short skipping rope

One end of the rope was tied around a verandah pole while the other one was turned by the adult, the grandmother of the girl skipping.

Other children skipped with shorter ropes.

Skipping was one of the games children play while waiting for the bell.

At School 15

Players: 5
Girls
Age: 10-11
Props: Long skipping rope and a pole

Group skipping using pole as 2nd person turning the rope. Multiple girls entering game together.

At School 11

Players: 5
Girls
Age: 9
Skipping Rope

The girls were skipping with 2 girls turning the rope and one skipping to the rhyme 'Teddy Bear' as in the traditional rhyme. They also played 'Helicopter'. This involved one girl standing, holding a rope, doubled in her hand above her head. She was the helicopter. The others were around her in a circle. She spun the rope around her head, with everyone reciting rhyme-

Helicopter, Helicopter
Please come down,
If you don't I'll shoot you down
Bang, Bang.

On reciting 'Bang, Bang' one end of the rope is let go, with the holder (helicopter) bending down and spinning on the spot holding the rope out. The rest of the players jumped over the rope. If the rope hit the legs of a player, that player then takes the place of the person in the centre. To bring it to another level, the players instead of standing in one position, moved around in a circle in the opposite direction to the person with the rope.

Another group of girls played the following game:

Players: 6
Girls
Age: 9
Skipping Ropes


The girls were skipping with their ropes linked in a row of 6 girls. They then showed me how they skip with 2 groups of 3. Then two girls both holding the ends of the rope took turns in skipping inside the rope and then attempted to skip together after running in separately.

At School 02

Players: 5
Girls
Age: 7
Skipping Rope

Girls played a variety of games with a short skipping rope. They also played a game of skipping without a rope.

One boy (Age: 1) told a story about someone who had 'strangled themselves with a skipping rope. They put it around their neck and pulled, and strangled themselves.'

At School 04

Players: 12
Boys
Age: 10
Long and short plastic Skipping Ropes

The boys were practising skipping, getting ready for Heart Health Day next week. They have been practising for about a month, and last Term a group of girls and two boys came to the school to demonstrate skipping techniques as part of the Heart Health program.

The following rhyme was observed:

Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn around
Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the ground.

The following skills were observed:

  • long rope - 'running in' while rope is turning without fouling the rope
  • short rope - skipping 'double' (turning the rope twice for a single jump);
  • doing 'criss-cross skippy' (crossing the arms for every second turn of the rope);
  • doing 'criss-cross skippy' while hopping on one leg;
  • doing 'criss-cross skippy' while skipping backwards;
  • skipping at fast speed

Skipping was seen played by several groups throughout the course of the week.

At School 08

Players: 3
Girls
Age: 13
Extra long, plastic skipping rope

One girl had an extra long skipping rope, holding the two ends in her hand. She turned around and around on the spot with the rope swinging out just above the ground. Two other girls had to jump over the rope as it reached them. If someone fouled the rope, they swapped places with the person turning the rope.
There was no rhyme said with this activity.

Another game played at the school was called Queen Bee

Players: 3 +
Girls
Age: 12
Extra long, plastic skipping rope

Three or more girls - about five on the first day of observation - one at each end of skipping rope, swinging the rope around in a co-ordinated circular motion (one end clock wise and the other anti-clockwise), the other girls skipped in the middle, jumping over the rope when it approached their feet, usually one at a time, sometimes two (perhaps more at other times, not observed on this occasion).

At School 19

Players: 5
Girls
Age: 6
Props: Long Skipping rope

Usually played by girls who can't quite skip yet.
While asking an informant about her long rope skipping, she decided to demonstrate the wiggly snake for me. A player hold the rope at each end and lie the rope along the ground and move their end from side to side causing the rope to wiggle from end to end. The other players have to jump over the rope to the other side without touching the rope. This is played by infants who have not yet been able to master coordination of the usual skipping action.

Also, with the same group of girls:

There appeared to be no rhymes associated with the skipping. A fluctuating number of around 5 players appeared to be involved from year 1. My informant explained she played other games too and then demonstrated the wiggly snake game (see next sheet). They used a long skipping rope for both games with player at each end of the rope. They had enlisted the assistance of a boy their own age to tie two ropes together to make a longer rope, however he was having too much difficulty for me to see the result of this initiative.

Also

Players: 2
Girls
Age: 7
Props: Short Skipping Rope

Using a skipping rope intended for one child, the two children stood side by side, each with a handle in their outside hands. Turning the rope simultaneously, they jumped over the rope and continued to skip in unison.

At School 10

Players: 4
Girls
Age: 9
Props: Long Skipping rope

The rhyme 'Firecracker' was a rhyme chanted while skipping either on your own or with a partner. No actions accompanied the rhyme.

Firecracker, Firecracker, boom, boom, boom
Firecracker, Firecracker, boom, boom, boom
Boys have got the muscles, teachers got the brains
And the girls got the attitude, so they win the game.

The line And the girls got the attitude was their own substitute for the line in the original The girls got the sexy legs. The reason for the substitute was because they felt it was inappropriate for the school situation. Even when skipping this rhyme outside school hours, they felt it was still inappropriate. They also felt that their line fitted in better because it rhymed better.

At School 18

Players: 2
Girls
Age: 7
Props:Skipping rope, individual skipping.

Played in a number of varations.

At School 13

Players: 1
Girls
Age: 7
Props: Short Skipping rope

I noticed a girl skipping and reciting a rhyme. The rhyme is 'Sausages in a pan'

Sausage in a pan
Flip it over,
Flip it over,
Flip it over,
Flip, flip, flip, flip etc

The rhyme is recited as you skip. When you get to the 'flip, flip' part you continue saying flip for each skip, until
you get out.

This can be either an individual or group skipping.

Also

Players: 2+
Girls
Age: 9-10
Props: Skipping rope

Large rope skipping: Figure of 8 where the girls all skip through singly and then line up from the other side and follow with the same. Double Skipping is where a person with a rope skips within the large rope.

At School 06

Players: 4
Girls
Age: 12-13
Props: Skipping rope

Skipping practice for 'Jump-rope'. One girl only swings the rope extended at a low elevation and calls in/counts in others to jump over it. Played in amphitheatre area.

Also

Players: 2
Girls
Age: 6
Props: Skipping rope

'Aeroplane'. One participant swings a skipping rope extended while the other participant jumps over the end of the rope. Observed on asphalted area near hall.

Also

Players: 8
Girls
Age: 8-12
Props: Skipping rope

'Figure 8'. Skipping game involving running in, one jump and then running out, then running around to rejoin queue to repeat action. Played on asphalt area.

At School 12

Players: 2
Girls
Age: 9
Props: Skipping rope

Two girls were turning a long piece of rope on the tennis court as in skipping, but they didn't have anyone to skip in the middle, so after a few goes they stopped playing with the rope.

Also

Players: 4
Girls
Age: 6-8
Props: Long Skipping rope

Three girls were playing a game on the terrace above the oval, where one turned around on the spot with her arm held out, swinging a skipping rope around in a circle, while the others jumped over it as it came around. The skipping rope was a long one, and both ends were held together, making it a short, double piece of rope to jump over. The girls tried skipping this way, then moved down to the oval where they tried holding only one end of the rope, making it much longer to jump over as it came around. They had difficulty managing such a long piece of rope, because it took a lot of momentum to get it moving in a circle. An older girl came across and took the rope, and she swung it around for them to jump over. Then one of the younger girls had a turn. They played until the bell rang.

Played at

Related Miscellaneous Physical Play