I remember loving hopscotch as a little girl. My friends and I would jump around happily every sunny afternoon until it was time to go home. Here are two versions of this classic game and some ideas on how to play it according to the children's ages.
Outdoor Hopscotch with chalk
Combine this active jumping game with some creative drawing to make everyone happy - little sportfans and tiny artists. And, your kids got to use their brains as well. Preschoolers could help with drawing the rectangles and practice counting and writing numbers. We chose to draw number 10 as a cloud since in Germany, the game is called "Heaven and Hell" and you have to jump your way out of hell.
How to play
For younger kids, the goal could be to jump into every rectangle only once or to try to jump with one leg only. Count the numbers out loud like a little song and they will quickly learn them by heart all while being active.
For older kids the game can be made a little more difficult then that. If they play it with two players, each player gets a little stone and throws it into one of the rectangles. This rectangle is then forbidden for the other player but he or she still needs to jump to the end on one leg. If the player reaches number 10, he or she gets another stone to throw for the opponent in the next round. The player who succeeds at last is the winner of the game.
If you want to play it with multiple players, build teams of two. One kid gets blindfolded, the other one tells him when to jump and how far. Every rectangle must only be touched once. Jump into number 5 and 6 in our example above at the same time. Whichever team reaches number ten without any mistakes, wins the game.
Indoor Hopscotch Puzzle
There is a great indoor version available at amazon that involves some puzzling. The structure is slightly more difficult to jump than the one we drew on the floor. The rules are the same. Of course, you could simply invent your own rules.
Happy jumping.