Hopscotch

Remember the wonderful hopping game that only needed a road surface & a stone. We were easily amused in those days!

Hopscotch provided hours of fun!

This was a game I really enjoyed. I remember drawing the hopscotch grid with special stone,which i kept in a secret place in the gutter outside my house. You needed the right kind of stone, a bit soft & preferably with sharp edge, so it drew nice white lines.

From memory the grid had 8 sections and a number in each of them. Each player has a stone & takes turns. The first player stands behind the starting line to toss her or his stone in square 1. Hop over square 1 to square 2 and then continue hopping to square 8, turn around, and hop back again. Pause in square 2 to pick up the stone, hop in square 1, and out. Then continue by tossing the stone in square 2. All hopping is done on one foot unless the hopscotch design is such that two squares are side-by-side. Then two feet can be placed down with one in each square.

Hopscotch Grid. Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/thekoopabros/411038015/

A player is out if the stone fails to land in the proper square, the hopper steps on a line, loses balance when bending over to pick up the stone, puts a second hand or foot down, hops into a square where a stone is, or puts two feet down in a single box.

This game kept us amused for hours & cost absolutely nothing. The worst that could happen was you fell over your own feet & went home with a grazed knee!  It was definitely more suited to girls, with a bit of practice we got really proficient & hopped along our grids like little sparrows. Boys just looked plain clumsy! Who remembers playing this in their street?

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