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A routine proving that better balance is child’s play.

Do you wish you had the same energy and balance as you did in school? Teach yourself how to play hopscotch again.

If you feel a little wobbly on your feet, this routine will work your thighs and calves as well as the muscles supporting the knee joints to give you better balance.

Start small to begin with, and work your way up. The steps below will help you progress until you are playing a game if you choose to do the full challenge. It’s your fitness. You decide how far you want to go.

Make sure you practise the steps every day. They are designed to work up strength and technique to make completing the challenge easier.

Step 1 - Standing on one leg

• Standing with your feet together raise your arms to your sides and lift one leg off the ground keeping your stomach muscles tight.
• Hold onto a chair to get your balance at first if you need to, then work up to doing it unassisted.

Work up to 1 minute of balancing on each leg. Do not move on to Step 2 until you have mastered this.

Step 2 - Hopping

• Do Step 1 - Start by balancing on each leg for a minute each. This strengthens your knees so don’t miss this out. It’s important.
• Now that you are on one leg, slowly hop up and down keeping control of your balance.
• Be careful of leaning forward and putting too much weight on your knee. Your back should be straight.
• Each time your foot touches the ground, hold it for a few seconds and get your balance. Use your core muscles to keep you steady before hopping again.

Practice this 3 times on each leg, working up to 10 comfortable hops. When you are comfortable hopping, move onto Step 3.

Step 3 – One leg bend over

• Do Step 1 - Stand on each leg for 1 minute each.
• Do Step 2 - Hop forward 10 times on each leg.
• Now you should be feeling comfortable on one leg so we’ll take it up a notch.
• On one leg, slowly bend over and touch the floor keeping your knee slightly bent to help you down.

Practice this until you can bend forward on one leg 10 times on each side. Build up to 10 if you find it a bit tricky to begin with.

Step 4 – Hop and jump

• Do Step 1 – Stand on each leg for 1 minute each
• Do Step 2 – Hop forward 10 times on each leg.
• Do Step 3 – practice bending over to build strength and balance.
• Now hop forward 3 times and on the last hop land with both feet on the ground shoulder distance apart (i.e. not with your feet close together).
• Repeat, making sure that you hold your balance between each step.

Practice this until you can confidently alternate between hopping and jumping, keeping your stomach muscles tight and your back straight.

Step 5 – Play Hopscotch

• Do Step 1 - Stand on each leg for 1 minute each
• Do Step 2 - Hop forward 10 times on each leg.
• Do Step 3 – practice bending over to build strength and balance.
• Do Step 4 – practice alternating between hopping and jumping.
• Now put it all together – it’s time to play a game of hopscotch!
• Draw up a Hopscotch grid and throw a stone or ball to use as your marker (we used a thick pair of socks) into a box. Hop to where it lands. Bend over on one leg and pick it up.
• We’ve designed a grid for you so you can keep up your practice, but once you get better you can mix it up.
• Here are (in case it’s been a while since you last played).