Jumping and Logic Go Together Like Peas and Carrots

Forest Gump says he and Jenny go together like peas and carrots.  To be honest, I don’t like peas, but I have always loved the concept of two vegetables being perfect for each other and making each other better.

While carrots are just fine without the peas, logic needs jumping.  Why?  Jumping requires a key perceptual motor skill: temporal awareness, which is the internal understanding of rhythm and time.  Temporal awareness is dependent on sequences that follow a specific pattern and order.  Logic is also dependent upon sequences that follow a specific pattern and order.

Temporal awareness is built through the physicality of play, which children do when they jump, swing, throw, and climb.  They then internalize these rhythms, patterns, and sequences to use as a foundation for logic.

Jumping, climbing, running, swinging, and kicking a ball are all physical motor patterns that require a series of actions to happen in a specific order for success.  Remember how hard it was to get the rhythm of pumping your legs while you were swinging?  Remember the struggle of crossing the monkey bars?  They both require a pattern and rhythm.  But once mastered, they work in the background without a lot of thought.

Children first begin to understand rhythm with the general rhythms of life: get up, eat breakfast, brush teeth, go to school, etc. Having a regular daily schedule with mealtime, playtime, school time, and bedtime allows them to internalize that rhythm. (Check out our blog “Why a Schedule Is Important” for more on this) Children under two begin understanding these concepts when learning temporal awareness through the rhythm of music and the sequencing of movements like clapping patterns, crawling, walking, galloping, and skipping.

Young children also strengthen their temporal awareness through the rhythm and patterning of language and speech when books are read aloud to them and when they are exposed to and included in conversations.

Children take these rhythms and patterns, learned from all of these sources: moving their bodies, conversing, singing songs, clapping patterns, or reading aloud, then internalize them and apply them to classroom skills.

For example, reading uses temporal awareness because it is dependent upon a sequence and pattern in the words on the page.  Writing requires the execution of motor movements, putting a pencil to paper, and applying a specific order of pencil marks to successfully create a letter or write a sentence.  Math requires sequencing and patterning in equations, while logic requires the ability to noodle out a sequence to reach a conclusion.

If temporal awareness is not well developed, children spend a lot of mental energy focusing on the execution of the action rather than the result, and can forget what they are doing in the meantime. (Williams 2025)

And these connections are all reinforced through movement, which helps the brain connect the rhythms, sequences, and patterning of the body’s movement so that the eyes, arms, and legs can move in coordination.

Temporal awareness affects the controlled and habitual movements of walking, running, climbing, skipping, jumping, and throwing. The smoother and more coordinated these movements are, the more secure the temporal awareness becomes.

Watch a young child begin the process of learning to jump, and you will see the development of temporal awareness. Jumping requires a sequence of precise movements to be successful:

• Bend the knees
• Push the hips and weight back
• Push against the floor to extend his legs and begin to propel forward
• Upon landing, the knees bend to cushion the impact.

When a child misses some of the steps, the jump looks awkward, maybe even painful. Some children will land with straight legs, while others attempt to push off the floor and propel forward with straight legs. Through trial and error, they begin to piece together the steps needed for a successful jump, and they make appropriate adjustments.  The more precise these movements, the more successful the action. This is temporal awareness in movement.

Skipping is another example that starts by first mastering a gallop, which is half of a skip. Very specific steps must happen to gallop across a room. The gallop starts with a step and a hop and continues that pattern, always leading with the same foot.  Once galloping is mastered, skipping comes with the same step-hop pattern, but now with alternating feet.

What is more magical is that this also requires the recruitment of both sides of the brain, reinforcing the essential conversation between the two and further strengthening not just logic, but creative thinking and problem solving.  This is because galloping or skipping requires the two sides of the body to be used in completely different ways at different parts of the sequence. So a child needs an internalized understanding of the two different sides of the body and the sequence, rhythm, and timing needed to execute the pattern of movements with success.

Temporal awareness is usually something we develop naturally, behind the scenes, while in big-body play. The more we move our bodies, the more it is developed and strengthened. More often than not, children will continue to develop these skills through their natural play-based development.

However, the two-dimensional world of a screen can limit the development of these skills. The more time spent in sedentary activities, the more likely an issue will arise. Keeping kids moving will encourage the development of these crucial skills, and purposeful play can help remediate deficiencies.

Activities and Games to Improve Temporal Awareness

Rhythm games are a great way to develop temporal awareness, whether they are clapping patterns, stomping patterns, verbal patterns, or jumping patterns.

• Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack
• Hopscotch
• Jumping: across the floor, down from a low height, or up to a low height.
• Kicking
• Throwing
• Crawling
• Skipping

Don’t forget reading aloud and singing!

Children who are challenged with temporal awareness might have

• Challenges with time
• Struggles with sequencing
• Struggles with patterning
• Challenges with rhythm
• Awkwardness, clumsiness
• Challenges with galloping at age 4
• Challenges with skipping at age 5
• Challenges with following instructions
• Discomfort with change

Williams, Jane. Temporal Awareness: Helping your child be a great learner — It’s all in the timing.  Accessed 4/8/25. activebabiessmartkids.com http://activebabiessmartkids.com.au/articles/great-learner-timing/