Enable Children Improve Body Control using Hopscotch

Hello again, young learners. I, Peter, and my friend, Agnee, are back again to talk about a fun game. We hope you enjoyed playing Bingo in our earlier episode. If you missed it you can find it in this link. 

Now, are you excited to play another game with us?

This game is called Hopscotch. And as the name suggests, all you need to do is ‘hop’! Sounds fun, doesn’t it? It is, indeed. But here’s what you need to know. While you hop, you need to do it within some squares and you have to be very careful!

Once you get the hang of it, you will realise that it’s an outdoor game that’s quite fun to play, especially with a group of friends. It also helps improve your hand-eye coordination and make you really agile. 

History of the game

Peter and I thought it’s important to share the history of this game, because it’s one of the oldest games in the world. 

For 3,000 years people have been playing various versions of this game. And even today, it’s popular among children all across the globe. 

The game is said to have originated in Rome, but there are traces of origins in all countries. Here are some names within India itself: Kunte Belle, Laylay, Paandi, Potsy, etc. 

Things you need

• Chalk or even a painted Hopscotch court.
• A small object like a stone 
• Lots of energy and excitement

Drawing the Hopscotch court

Well, to draw the Hopscotch court, you need an adult. Here’s how they have to do it. The court has a set of 8 or 10 squares in this format:

• Square with number 1 written on it is followed by two squares with numbers 2 and 3 stacked on top of each other.
• After that, squares with 4 and 5 are placed next to each other.
• This is followed by squares with numbers 6 and 7 drawn on top of squares 4 and 5 in the same position as squares 1, 2 and 3. 
• This continues with the next squares with numbers 8 and 9 drawn similar to squares  4 and 5. 
• Square 10 being the last square, can be drawn on top of square 8 and 9. 

That’s a lot of rules, right? Here is a picture that may help you understand better. For younger children, you can make a court with just eight boxes. 

Different ways to draw a hopsotch court

How to play?

• Once the hopscotch court is drawn, all the players should get ready for their turn in a line.
• Player one needs to pick up the pebble or the small object and throw it on Number 1.
• The player has to jump in the boxes and go all the way to number 10 and return. While returning, the player has to pick up the stone from number 1.
• Player 1 must hop inside the boxes and NOT touch the lines of the boxes. If the lines are touched, the player has to move and leave a way for the second player. 
• If player 1 is successful, they can go ahead with the next number. Their turn extends until they follow their rules and complete all the numbers. 
• If they don’t follow the rules that we have mentioned, they need to stop and continue their turn after all the players are done with their turn. 
• The player who finishes all the numbers is the winner. 

It is fun to play a game of hopscotch, isnt it?

What do you learn?

Like all the games that Agnee and I have been talking to you about, this, too, has a lot of learning with a lot of fun. Here are some aspects:

Math skills:

There’s a lot of number counting involved in this game. And there are plenty of ways to make hopscotch a game to learn several maths lessons. For instance, instead of a regular course, you can make a grid with more numbers and hop on to a specific set of numbers. But the rules have to be set in advance.

Here are some sample rules: you can jump on odd numbers alone or multiples of 3 or 5. This will enhance your math skills such as counting, addition and multiplication. 

Body control & coordination:

Hopping is a lot of fun, isn’t it? It’s also a good way to improve control over your body’s activities. 

To hop onto the right squares, it requires a lot of precision, and when you play the game often, your control of your body increases. It also builds body strength, balance, hand-eye coordination and so much more.

Think about it, you throw a stone on the correct box and jump into it. Your eyes, hands and legs need to coordinate for you to nail the attempt. 

This is fun, right? Agnee and I are going to play a game of Hopscotch now with our friends. What are you waiting for? Go ahead and enjoy a game and let us know how much fun it was in the comments.