Games + Activities

When I was little My Nan used to play Hopscotch with me all the time. But I feel like it’s a little bit lost in time so I wanted to remind us all of this fab little game that promotes gross motor skills like balancing, hopping, jumping, alongside counting to ten. It also practises taking turns, winning and losing, which is basically what life is all about isn’t it?

HOPSCOTCH

I played with the number mats we have and set them up like this (excuse the usual kitchen mess, I couldn’t hop with my slippers on!) However with my Nan we used to write boxes and numbers on the pavement with chalk. You can do this in your kitchen and clear up with baby wipes, or chalk it out in a garden or driveway?

For Flo (23 months) we just did hop, jump, hop, jump with us both shouting out the numbers - 1…..23…..4…..56…..7…..89…..10! Later I said “Jump on….3” or “hop on….6” and she enjoyed that too.

For older children the game goes like this:

1. Get something to throw at the numbers like a stone if outside, or if inside a bean bag ball or a bit of lego or a blob of blue tack or play doh.
2. You take it in turns to throw your “stone” aiming to land your stone on the numbers 1-10 consecutively. So to start with you’re both aiming for 1.
3. When your “stone” lands on the right number you jump and hop along the hopscotch WITHOUT putting a foot on the number your stone is on. If you wobble and put your foot down on it then you have to do that number again
4. If you complete the hopscotch without landing on the number with the stone you have “got” that numbers and can aim for the next one.
5. The winner is the first to get to 10!

Enjoy!