HOPSCOTCH
When I was in third grade I had a great teacher. She was really good at keeping rowdy boys in control and channeling our energy in a good direction. As the weather got cold and we found ourselves with a couple feet of snow on the ground a rules against snowball fights at school we’d find ourselves less than excited about going outside or recess. This could easily have turned into utter chaos, but a smart teacher was one step ahead of us.
Mrs. Billings bought our class a hopscotch mat. Now when I was a 9 year old boy I thought it was a girl’s game! Boys did stuff like playing football and punching each other in the nose for fun, we didn’t play hopscotch. I would rather get sent to the principal’s office (that happened enough that she had my home phone number on speed dial!) than play a girl’s game! But with a little coaxing from Mrs. Billings and some friendly competition mixed in this became the game of choice.
There were a couple boys my age that were really good. Josh Heart and Gerrit Miller we’re talented, coordinated and cool. Not to mention the girls all thought Josh was just the cutest boy. Josh and I sat next to each other and we spent most of the day drawing jets. Josh could draw the best F-14 Tomcat you ever saw on paper. Needless to say, I thought he was pretty cool too.
The end result was that I was a boy, I liked to compete and I like to win. Hopscotch became our favorite pastime. In fact when the weather started warming we’d try to make deals with Mrs. Billings to let us stay inside at recess to play. Regardless, we may not have been able to go outside, but we were definitely active for hours, got plenty of exercise and had a great time.
When the weather turns cold enough you don’t want to spend time sitting on your wooden tree swing try setting up a place to play hopscotch. You can easily adjust the size to fit in the living room or a bedroom and kids will love the fun. If you don’t have a mat with a hopscotch design try using tape on the floor or drawing one on cardboard. You can use a small bean bag to throw.
At the TreeSwingStore.com we don’t just make great wooden swings for kids, we also love to see kids get active and stay healthy. When the weather is cold you can be creative with what you do inside and a lot of the simple games we played as kids are just as fun today as they were 30 years ago. If you have suggestions of fun activities for kids and you’d like to share them with us please feel free to do so by clicking here.