How Far Can Pip Jump? | Jumping Science for Kids

Pip wants to jump all the way over a puddle! Gus has ideas. First Pip squeezes the arms tight like a rock. Splash! Then Pip swings the arms way back. Splash again! Then Pip swings the arms forward, the same way as the jump, and makes it over. Along the way we find out that swinging your arms forward helps pull your body along, so you take off faster. We meet some real kangaroos, and then we play Swing and Jump. For ages 4 to 6, best watched together. Pip stops talking four times so you can ask a question and let your child guess: 0:52 Will Pip make it over the puddle with arms squeezed tight? 1:34 Will swinging the arms backward help Pip get over? 2:16 What if Pip swings the arms forward, the same way as the jump? 4:05 Why does swinging your arms forward help you jump farther? Safety: jump on a flat floor with lots of space, away from furniture and stairs. Bare feet or shoes with grip, not socks. Land on your feet with your knees bent. The puddle in the video is a drawing; outside, a grown-up checks the ground first. Try it at home: put a piece of tape on the floor as a start line. Jump with your arms still and put tape where your feet land. Jump again, swinging your arms forward, and mark that one too. Which tape is farther? What's real: the hopping kangaroos are real video. Pip, Gus, the yard, the puddle, the splashes, the tape marks and the "how high" bars are drawings. Pip's and Gus's voices and the song's singer are computer-made. Science sources: Ashby & Heegaard 2002, J Biomech, doi:10.1016/s0021-9290(02)00239-7 Ashby & Delp 2006, J Biomech, doi:10.1016/j.jbiomech.2005.04.017 Hara et al. 2008, J Biomech, doi:10.1016/j.jbiomech.2008.07.002 Lees et al. 2004, J Biomech, doi:10.1016/j.jbiomech.2004.02.021 Hara et al. 2006, J Biomech, doi:10.1016/j.jbiomech.2005.07.030 Petrić et al. 2025, Sports (Basel), doi:10.3390/sports13110387 Floría & Harrison 2013, J Appl Biomech, doi:10.1123/jab.29.6.655 Thornton et al. 2025, eLife, doi:10.7554/eLife.96437 Bennett 2000, Physiol Biochem Zool, doi:10.1086/318110 DeVita & Skelly 1992, Med Sci Sports Exerc, PMID 1548984 SHAPE America, Grade-Level Outcomes for K-12 Physical Education (S1.E3.K) Brod et al. 2025, NPJ Sci Learn, doi:10.1038/s41539-025-00364-9 Yu et al. 2018, Dev Sci, doi:10.1111/desc.12696 Video clips from Pexels: Pat Whelen, Joolsmagools. Swing and Jump song made with Suno. Voices by ElevenLabs.