Across-the-Floor Gymnastics Steps
A gymnastics warm-up where students travel across the gym on the diagonal in small waves, using basic steps: tiptoe walk, side gallop, chassé, grapevine, and scissor leap. It warms up the legs and ankles and improves coordination and posture.
How to play
- Mark two opposite corners with cones as start and finish. Students wait in lines of 5 at the starting corner.
- Each wave of 5 goes when the previous one is halfway. First pass: tiptoe walk with arms out to the sides and eyes forward; walk back along the edge.
- Second pass: side gallop, one foot chasing the other, turning halfway to switch sides.
- Third and fourth passes: forward chassé (“step, together, step”) and grapevine, crossing in front and behind.
- Fifth and sixth passes: scissor leap, then two chassés into a jump with arms up.
- Final pass with music: each wave combines three steps of its choice and ends in a pose (about 8 minutes of passes in all).
Rules
- Start when the wave ahead reaches the middle of the diagonal.
- Return along the edge of the gym, never through the diagonal.
- Stay in your own lane within your wave.
- Land jumps on the balls of your feet with knees bent.
Variations
Easier
Walk the steps with no airborne phase while the teacher claps the rhythm.
Standard
Six passes of basic steps and a final combination with music.
Harder
Add a one-foot turn and a tuck jump at the end of the diagonal while holding arm position.
Adaptations
- Wheelchair users: travel the diagonal mixing pushes and turns to the rhythm, with the arms showing each step’s movement.
- Low vision: travel in the edge lane next to a partner who calls out each step and claps the rhythm.
- Fitness level: tired students walk the passes; advanced students jump higher or link two steps.
Learning goals
- Perform basic gymnastics steps with tall posture.
- Coordinate arms and legs with a rhythm.
- Warm up the ankles and legs for jumps and tumbling.
Equipment for a class of 25
- cones: 4
- music: 1
Teacher tip
Demonstrate each step facing the class and with your back to them. The most common chassé mistake is not bringing the feet together in the air; keep saying “step, together, step.”
PatioLab has "Across-the-Floor Gymnastics Steps" and 2499 more activities ready to drag into your lesson and run from your phone in the gym.
More activities like this
More warm-ups for Elementary
Active Blind Man's Bluff
A dynamic version of Blind Man's Bluff in which a guide uses only their voice to lead a blindfolded partner to tag classmates moving inside a small area.
Active Corners
Each corner of the space is marked with a cone and an exercise; the teacher calls a corner and students run to it to complete the exercise.
Animal Races
Students move around the space imitating different animals: bear walks, frog jumps, crab walks, and kangaroo hops, with short races between lines.
Anton Pirulero Copy-and-Switch
A movement version of the traditional Spanish-language singing game "Antón Pirulero": each student does their own exercise, and when the leader copies theirs, they must…
Around the World
Different areas of the playground become continents, and students travel between them using the locomotor move the teacher calls out.
Arrow Signals: Follow or Flip
The teacher holds up an arrow drawn on cardstock and students move in that direction; with the red arrow, they do the exact opposite.