HOPSCOTCH

OBJECTIVE OF HOPSCOTCH: Throw the small object and hop through the numbered boxes without misthrowing the stone or hopping incorrectly.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 1-5 players

MATERIALS: Sidewalk chalk (various colors), small stone or object

TYPE OF GAME: Outdoor game

AUDIENCE: 5+

OVERVIEW OF HOPSCOTCH

Everyone has played hopscotch once or twice as a kid. It is a classic outdoor game that doesn’t require much more than a concrete slab and some sidewalk chalk. The game can be played alone or with friends as a competition. Fun fact: Hopscotch originated as a training exercise for Roman soldiers over 2,000 years ago!

SETUP

Before you start hopping away, you’ll need to set up the game. The layout of the boxes can be drawn however you would like, and you can add as many numbers as you wish. But, of course, the more boxes in the layout, the more complex the game will be.

Draw the design on the ground using sidewalk chalk. The standard format is ten boxes with a number on each box. The boxes go in the following order:

GAMEPLAY

Once you’ve drawn the design, you can start to play. Decide which player goes first by flipping a coin or playing rock paper scissors.

First, throw the stone or small object and try to make it land within the lines of the first box. You lose your turn if the stone fails to go in the first box or lands on the line.

If the object lands correctly inside the first box, hop through the design and skip over the first box where the object is. You should hop on one foot on any single squares. However, if you reach two adjacent boxes, you can use both feet with one foot in each box.

Once a player has reached the end of the formation, turn around and hop through the boxes again the other way, picking up the object on the way. Make sure to hop over the first square once again.

If you complete this without making any mistakes, you move on to the following number, throwing the object on the second square, then the third, and so on. If playing with more than one person, have the second player play the first square before you move on to the second square on your next turn.

If at any point a player throws the stone or hops incorrectly, they lose their turn and must try again on their next turn.

END OF GAME

The first player to throw the stone on boxes 1-10 and hop through all numbered squares correctly wins the game. If multiple players finish the game in the same round, there are multiple winners!

Lev
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