Crossing the River
Cross a "river" on stepping-stone hoops without touching the water. Jumping, landing and balance, and the one they ask for again.
Overview
You need
The two ropes lie flat on the floor to mark the river banks, they are not for holding or jumping. The beanbags are only needed if you use the harder version.
Skills developed
- Stability: landing with control
- Locomotor: jumping, hopping, leaping between points
- Body awareness: judging distance, adjusting effort
NEL Framework: Motor Skills Development.
Set up
Lay two ropes flat on the floor, about six metres apart and parallel to each other. They mark the two river banks. The whole gap between them is the water. No rope is held or jumped, they just show where the river starts and ends. Two lines of cones work if you have no ropes.
Scatter hoops between the banks as stepping stones, each one a small child's hop from the next.
Children line up on one bank. Coach stands mid-river, side on, to watch every landing.
How to play
- One at a time, children cross using only the stones. Both feet must land inside each hoop.
- A foot in the water? Hop back to the bank and try again. Nobody is "out".
- Once across, run round the outside back to the start. Send the next child after two stones.
- After every round, move one stone a little further apart.
Tips for explaining
Make it easier / harder
Safety
More running, jumping & hopping games
Rather we ran it for you?
This is one of the games our coaches run in pre-schools every week, with our own equipment. Weekly enrichment, sports days, or a whole holiday programme for your centre, planned in one message.