Before children learn how to properly skip, what locomotor skill should they learn?

The correct answer is based on the developmental sequence of locomotor skills in children. Before mastering skipping, children typically learn to gallop as it acts as a precursor to the coordinated movements required for skipping. Galloping involves a pattern of movement that is similar to skipping in that it engages the same leg and arm coordination, making it a fundamental building block.

When children gallop, they learn to lead with one foot and maintain rhythm, which helps establish balance and timing, qualities essential for skipping. This skill helps them understand body movement in a forward motion while using one leg more dominantly, transitioning naturally into the alternating footwork characteristic of skipping.

Learning to walk, run, or jump, while important in their own right, does not specifically develop the alternating patterns and coordination between legs and arms as effectively as galloping does before advancing to the more complex skill of skipping. Therefore, galloping should be prioritized before children attempt to skip.