Skill Development: Targeting a Specific Skill

Did you know? Kids have been playing hopscotch since the 1600s! This game is an “oldie”, but a “goodie”.

Not only is hopscotch fun, but it also helps to develop children’s:

  • body strength
  • balance
  • eye/hand coordination
  • body rhythm
  • fine and gross motor muscles

Hopscotch is versatile!

  • It can be played on your own or with others. Remember to keep your distance!
  • You can use your imagination to draw your own hopscotch course, or find traditional templates online.
  • It can be played outdoors by drawing lines with chalk on the sidewalk, or using a stick to make lines in the dirt. If playing indoors, you can use painter’s tape to make the course on the floor, use string to outline tiles, or place paper squares on the ground.

The rules are simple:

  1. Everyone needs a marker to throw. You can use a piece of chalk, find stones, beanbags, buttons, or small plastic or stuffed toys.
  2. Make your course – be sure the spaces are big enough for your foot to fit in it.
  3. Traditionally, you number the squares from 1-10 (but you can create as many squares as you like) and the first person throws their rock into the first square.
  4. The player hops on one foot to each square all the way to the end of the board. If two squares are next to each other, use both feet. The player must hop over the square containing their marker, then turn and hop back, picking up their marker. Then hop out of the course and it is the next player’s turn.
  5. A player loses a turn if they step on a line or their marker bounces out of the square when tossed.
  6. The first player to get their marker to the #10 space wins, or you can continue to play the game until everyone has made it through the course.

Variations to the game:

  • allow stepping on lines
  • allow players to hop on two feet
  • allow two hops in one square