Two Trains on Side-by-Side Tracks

In pairs, holding hands, each child walks on their own rope, with the two ropes laid side by side like train tracks. They have to match their partner's steps to stay connected and on the rope, helping each other keep their balance.

How to play

1. Lay pairs of parallel ropes about a hand's width apart, and each pair of children stands on one set of tracks (2 min).
2. Holding hands, walk along both tracks at the same time, each on your own, without letting go (3 min).
3. Move the ropes a bit farther apart: now you have to stretch your arm to keep holding hands (2 min).
4. The tracks curve: the inside child slows down and the outside child speeds up so they don't let go (2 min).
5. Switch partners and sides, and the child on the left sets the speed (2 min).
6. Last trip with hands apart, looking at each other and moving at the same time like a mirror (1 min).

Rules

• I hold my partner's hand.
• Each of us stays on our own track.
• If my partner steps off, I wait.
• We move at the same speed, not too fast, not too slow.

Variations

Adaptations

• Students with limited mobility use a wheelchair or walker on a wide track while their partner holds hands from the rope.
• Blind or low-vision students use their partner's hand as a guide, and the partner calls out the curves.
• Students with autism who avoid touch: partners connect by each holding one end of a scarf.

Learning goals

• Keep their balance on a rope while coordinating with a partner.
• Match their own speed to someone else's.
• Help a partner and accept help.

Equipment for a class of 25

• Jump ropes: 26

Teacher tip

Make the pairs yourself, matching a confident child with a more hesitant one. The common problem is one child pulling the other: pause and remind them "Trains travel together, they don't drag each other."

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