Daily Idea #362: “Chinese” Jump Rope

A few weeks ago my daughter received a Chinese jump rope in a grab bag; you know the kind, a circular, elastic rope, about 6 feet long. I completely forgot how to play with one (it’s way too big to be used in the hand games of cat’s cradles) and it got shoved into a toy box. A good friend of mine, happened to send me an text for a daily idea that included a Chinese jump rope and I thought, “We need to bring this simple game back”. So, thank you to my friend for sending today’s daily idea!

Typically this is played with three players; for those who don’t have three players, you can use a chair or two as stand in players. Two players (or the chairs) stand facing each other (far enough away that the rope is taught). Position the rope around the backs of the players ankles. The third player takes their turn by jumping in various patterns in, out, and on top of the rope until they make a mistake. When that player misses their jump or makes a mistake, they will then switch out with one of the side players. Play keeps rotating when the jumping player misses. If the jumping player gets through a round of jumping without any mistakes, the rope is then moved up to mid-calf on the side players and play continues. Each round the jumper gets through without missing, the rope is moved up higher and higher. Below is a picture of the various patterns for jumping.