Hopscotch

Have you ever played hopscotch? It's one of the teddy bears' favourite games. They usually play on the paving in the backyard. All you need is some chalk to draw an outline of 8 squares with numbers in them, and a small pebble (or shell, or bottle top, etc) for each of you to use as a marker.

The bears draw the outline of a grid on the paving with the chalk, starting with 2 single squares, then 2 next to each other, then 2 more single squares, then 2 more next to each other, and number them from 1 to 8, as shown in the diagram on the left.

You can draw them differently if you like, and sometimes they draw a slightly different version each time they play! They even draw ones with smaller squares for the little bears playing, and larger ones for the bigger bears!

Once you have decided on what marker you are going to use, you need to decide the order in which you are going to play - the bears used to find this the hardest part because everyone wanted to go first, so now they put all their markers into a hat and they take their turns in the order they are pulled out!

The rules are as follows:

Stand behind the starting line and toss your marker into square one.
Hop over square one to square two and then continue hopping to square eight, turn around, and hop back again.
Pause in square two on the way back to pick up the marker from square one, hop over square one, and out.
Then continue by tossing the marker into square two.
All hopping is done on one paw unless two squares are side-by-side. Then two paws can be placed down with one in each square (unless one of those squares contains the marker in which case it must be missed).
You must always hop over any square where a marker has been placed.

The first player continues on to throw their marker into square two and so on, until one of the following happens:
The player's marker fails to land in the proper square.
The player steps on a line.
The player loses balance when picking up the marker and puts a second paw down.
The player goes into a square where a marker is.
The player puts two paws down in a single box.

Then the next player has their turn.

When you have reached Square 8, you continue the numbers in reverse until you are back at Square 1 again. The winner is the first person to complete all the squares from 1 to 8, and then back from 8 to 1.

The bears find it's quite easy for the first few squares, but it gets quite difficult to throw your pebble into the squares further away.

Sometimes, just two or three of them want to play whilst the others do something else. If all of them play, maybe with their friends too, then the game can last quite a long time!! They have to have several stops for drinks or ice-cream then!

When they've finished their game, they clean the chalk off the paving with water and a brush so it's all neat again until the next time.

Sometimes they find that the chalk rubs off onto their paws, so they have to clean themselves up too!!

Try playing if you haven't played before, or design different grids if you have. Be sure to check that you are allowed to draw all over the ground with chalk before you start!! You can even play this inside if the weather is bad, by using sticky tape to outline the squares, and using small bean bags as markers. Have fun!!