Jump, Jump, Jump

By the age of 2 1/2 toddlers will have mastered the skill of jumping off the ground with two feet.  Since we have done this activity (about a month ago) he has come a long way. 
To teach him how to jump and make it into a game, we put the song "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" on the computer and he and his sister jumped and danced.  He learns a lot just by watching what his sister does, and this was no different.  Other ways that we encouraged him to jump (ADULT SUPERVISION REQUIRED IN 3, 2, 1) was jumping off of the couch onto a pile of pillows and blankets.  This is his most favourite game (and my daughters).
He started out doing a gallop kind of jump, by the next week he was getting a little bit better and now, a month later he can jump perfectly fine.  I love watching the transformation of the smallest tasks in my children!

Ways to teach your child to jump:

• Don't discourage jumping in your home.  There are places to do it, but with adults supervision there should be no problem jumping off that last step.  Rules and restrictions just need to be known by the children so that they stay safe when you are not around.
• Jump on a trampoline or put a pile of pillows on the ground and use the pile as a trampoline
• Play hopscotch
• Make an obstacle course and make them jump over things in their path