Teachers often ask why skip-hop workshop ropes don't adjust. The answer comes from 25 years of running skipping workshops in schools: in a lesson, adjustable ropes cost you time you don't have.
Hand a class of 30 children adjustable ropes and you'll soon find out what happens. They argue about who has the longest, they fiddle with the fittings, and they try to work out exactly what length their rope should be. Before you know it, the lesson is over and nobody has skipped.
That's why our workshop ropes come at a fixed length. We've used them in skip-hop workshops for 25 years, and in that time we've worked out the ideal length for each age group. Take them out of the bag, hand them out and the children are skipping straight away.
skip-hop does sell an adjustable rope for individuals, which is ideal for a child skipping at home or an adult who wants a rope set to their exact height. But it isn't suitable for workshops or class lessons, for all the reasons above.
Fixed length doesn't mean you're stuck. If a rope is too long for a particular child, it's easy to shorten.
Tie a loose knot in the rope just below the handle, between the handle and the middle of the rope. If you need to take up more length, tie two knots. Keep the knot close to the handle, but not touching it.
Don't let the knot reach the handle. Inside each handle is a small plastic washer that spins freely so the rope can turn smoothly. If you pull the knot right up against the handle, it jams that washer and the rope won't turn properly. A loose knot a little way down the rope does the job without getting in the way.
At the end of the lesson, untie the knots before the ropes go back into storage, so they're ready at full length for the next class.
As a rough guide, have the child stand on the middle of the rope with both feet and pull the handles straight up. If the handles reach about armpit height, the rope is about the right length.
It's a common belief that children can't skip because their rope isn't quite the right length. After thousands of workshops, we can tell you that's rarely the problem.
Once a child can skip, the exact length of the rope matters very little.
Get them skipping first and don't worry about the last few centimetres.
With Key Stage 2 children, we recommend that ropes are tied round the waist whenever they're not being used during the lesson. Teaching children how to do this is a good teaching point and time well spent, because:
Anyone who has opened a bag of tangled skipping ropes will appreciate this one. At the end of the lesson:
The ropes go into storage untangled and come out ready for the next lesson.
skip-hop skipping ropes have been designed and refined over 25 years of workshops to give the best performance in a school setting. They're hard-wearing and built to last, but they also spin freely enough for every trick on the skip-hop trick list.
And every speed you want to reach in the Virtual Skipping League can be reached with a skip-hop skipping rope.
See the full skip-hop range, from Key Stage 1 ropes to the Virtual Skipping League school set, or register your school for the league. It's completely free.
See the skip-hop ropesRegister your school – it's free
