Wednesday, July 16, 2008

What is or was your favorite childhood game?

What was your favorite childhood game? Was it hopscotch, hide-n-go seek, or tag? I have several favorites. I think the one I liked the most was hopscotch. You never really see any kids today playing hopscotch. In doing a little searching. I was curious to know how hopscotch originated.

This is what I found:

Hopscotch dates back to the Roman occupation of Britain. The first thing to be done is to draw a course. Several common court styles are seen below:Each player then chooses a marker, usually a stone. Play begins with the first player tossing his stone into the first space. If the stone lands completely within the designated square, the player proceeds to hop through the course. A player can only have one foot in any given square, so single squares must be balanced and double squares (side by side) are straddled.While hopping, the player should alternate the foot he lands on for each square. Any space not marked with a number, ie London, Home, etc., are considered rest squares and can be landed in in any fashion.When the player reaches the top of the court, he then turns around and comes back, collecting his marker along the way. Play then continues with the player tossing his marker into the second square and so on.

If a player fails to toss his marker into the correct square or if it touches a line the players turn ends. The same is true if the player stepson a line, misses a square, or loses his balance and falls.The first player to complete the course for each numbered square wins.

I located this information at web.northshield.org/.../moy/games/hopscotch.php.

I did notice when I was coming up that more girls played hopscotch than boys. The boys would just walk through when you were jumping and mess you up. They thought it was funny. You would get hurt especially if you were the one that had a big gap and you would've made it if he hadn't walked in front of you. Then you spent the rest of the time chasing him, trying to hit him for the remainder of recess. ~sigh, the memories~ If its a beautiful day where you are today. Make time and introduce your child to hopscotch if they don't know about it. Play to win...and play to learn. Have a fun day!

1 comment:

Phenomenal Me said...

Yeah, hopscotch was "OK", but for me, nothing compared to a good game of double dutch! We never had the real ropes, we played with everyting from clothesline wire to extension cords. Try going "hot peas and butter" with clothesline wire and just imagine the whelts we had on the back of our legs....ahhh, the memories.