Practice · Week 03 · Program week 15
Hopper the Frog
Jump and land · Courage
Jump a short distance forward and stick the landing three times.
35 minutes · ages 3–8
Try this at home
We practiced the same short jump three times and stuck the landing.
- 1Put a sock on the floor a short step away.
- 2Jump to it three times and freeze each landing.
- 3Leave the sock where it is. Do not slide it farther.
Stay on the floor. If it feels wobbly, make the challenge smaller.
Talk about courage
Why is repeating a small brave thing useful?
Look for this: Distance stays short enough that landings can match.
The story
Hopper picks a near lily pad, not the far one. He jumps to it three times until the landing matches.
Bend, land, and try a better one.
What happens in class
Gather and story · 4 min
- Hopper picks a near lily pad, not the far one. He jumps to it three times until the landing matches.
- We practice one short jump until it feels the same each time.
- Children sit where they can see you and the equipment. Show the careful version once.
Warm-up · 5 min
- Frog squats.
- Three in-place jumps with a stick.
- Step long, then step short, so distance starts to make sense.
Skill practice · 14 min
- Mark a line just one small step away. That is the target.
- Two feet push, two feet land past or on the line, then stick.
- Three jumps. If one is messy, the next is the same distance, not farther.
- Switch nothing about the target. Sameness is the practice.
Game · 7 min
- Each child chooses a target they believe they can land.
- A partner counts three sticks.
- No one moves a target farther during the turn.
Cool-down and character · 5 min
- Calf stretch against the wall, gentle.
- “Which jump felt most like the one before it?”