Outside Play : Games : Weekday Hopscotch

The girls and I have been spending a lot of time this summer outside playing. From our bike rides, trips to the library and soccer night, we have been outside most of the time. The best thing about being outside is how there seems to be a neverending supply of things to do. Until of course, you run out of ideas for things to do. Last week while we were visiting the library we happened upon an incredible book “Children’s Traditional Games: Games from 137 Countries and Cultures” by Judy Sierra. This book is packed full of amazing games that can be played indoors, outdoors, on paper and even at the beach! The girls and I sat down and flipped through the book. We landed on the huge variety of hopscotch games. We can’t share our version of one of the games we found.

1. Write the days of the week, staggered and in order, on the ground. Draw a circle or square around each word.

2. The first player throws their marker onto Monday, then hops on one foot onto the Monday circle.

3. The first player continues throwing and hopping through the days of the week.

4. If the player makes it to the end of the week, without stepping on two feet and without throwing the marker outside of the circle then she can write her initial on any one of the circles.

5. The circle that has his initial is now claimed as the first player’s space, he can stop on this circle with two feet…but the other players cannot land on this circle.

6. The game continues until all the circles are marked with player’s initials.

7. At the end of the game, the player with the most initials in circles wins.

The girls really enjoyed playing this game. At first they weren’t sure, but then as they got into it they realized that it was fun. I believe my youngest daughter’s exact words were “Hopscotch is awesome!”

I am very excited to participating in the Outside Play: Games Blog Hop today. Check out what games the co-hosts are playing outside…