Running, jumping and landing safely
Physical Education · Key Stage 1 · The School
Running tall
Run with your head up and your arms swinging forward and back, not across your body. Push off the balls of your feet. Running tall and light is faster and safer than running flat-footed and hunched. Try it: run flat-footed first, then run tall. Feel the difference.
A good jump
Bend your knees before you jump. Swing your arms up as you push off. Both feet leave the ground and both feet come back down. That is a two-footed jump, the safest kind to practise first. A one-footed hop is a different skill, for later.
Landing softly
Bend your knees as you land. Land on the balls of your feet, then let your heels come down. Keep your feet apart, not together. A soft, bent-knee landing spreads the force through your whole leg. A stiff, straight-legged landing sends it straight into your knees.
Jump off a low step or bench with an adult watching. Land once with straight, stiff legs. Feel the jolt. Land again, properly this time, with bent knees and soft feet. Feel how much quieter and gentler it is. That jolt is force travelling straight up your legs with nothing to absorb it. Bending your knees is not decoration — it is a shock absorber built from your own muscles, and it is why gymnasts and dancers bend on every single landing, every time, without exception.
Putting it together
Run, then jump over a low line, then land softly, then stop balanced. Practise the four in that order, every time. A fast run into a stiff, straight landing undoes all the safety a soft landing gives you. The whole sequence matters, not just the parts that feel exciting.