Hurdle round off punch back with visual cues for coordination

Complex coordination patterns like hurdles can be confusing for littles. Here's one set up we use to work on adding a hurdle to our round-off, as well as introducing the punch back for back handspring take-off. Of course this set up can be tweaked to work on each element separately as well before putting them together.

For this little gal we started doing skips with her favorite foot in the air (most kids want to use their favorite foot for support instead, but that leaves the wrong foot available for their round off). Then we practiced just her round-off with the long panel mat. Next, she did passe (favorite foot in the air) on the red mat, same foot hop- to the purple mat and step forward for lunge, & round off fall to back on the resi-pit. Last we added the first mat in order to get used to taking a step into the hurdle, and the arch mat to give her a target for her punch. She's still taking it slow, but it'll build the right pattern for her tumbling without me having to talk her through every repetition to make sure her feet are in the right order.