Days of winter weather can make kids stir-crazy. When cabin fever strikes, clear some floor space and roll out an indoor hopscotch mat. This ancient British game was used for military training exercises at the time of the Roman Empire; kids eventually became its most passionate devotees, because it's just plain fun.
Hopscotch How-To
Cut primed canvas to 10 feet long and 45 inches wide; place it primed side down. For squares: Center a 12-inch-square card-stock template 12 inches from bottom of mat; trace with a pencil. Position template 1 inch above first square; trace again. Continue, drawing board as shown. Tape around inside of squares with masking tape, aligning with marks. Outline the entire board with tape, 1 inch out from squares. Paint the lines with acrylic paint. Paint numbers. Let dry; remove tape. To keep canvas from slipping on bare floors, lay carpet rubber beneath it.
As this is described as indoor, why not designate a Church Room or space and paint it on the floor.
our school or churchs have banned activities such as these as being unsafe. The rubber mat may not slide on the floor but the game slides on the rubber mat. Whey not put the numbers directly onto interlocking rubber mats available at most big box stores or toy stores,
I made one for my classroom using a shower curtain.
I made one for my classroom using a shower curtain.
For tennisacademyva, the first website I found by googling "primed canvas" sells an appropriate width at well under $5 a yard. With a little shopping around, I'm sure it's available for less. It would be hard to make this project cost MORE than $30. Compared to other kids' toys... ??? I'm not even entirely sure where "the Hamptons" is, but even I could manage this.
Another fun idea - make the hopscotch on the smooth side of a sheet of bubble wrap and tape it to the floor or even the sidewalk with duct tape. Might not want to do it inside the house if you want to avoid a severe headache, but the kids LOVE IT!
tennisacademyva
3/19/09 at 1:34 p.m. ET
That's a great idea, BUT primed canvas is not exactly cheap! I'll have to save this idea for when I get my house in the Hamptons :D
Tennisacademyva
If you check out comments 6, 8, and 9 all of these gals have cheaper and easier ways to do this. We do hopscotch math in our gifted and talented classes at our elementary school (2nd n n n n n n 5th) and have different mats for each series of multiplication. 1X2=2, 2X2=4, through the 10n n n n n n s, although the 4th 5th
That's a great idea, BUT primed canvas is not exactly cheap! I'll have to save this idea for when I get my house in the Hamptons :D
That's a great idea, BUT primed canvas is not exactly cheap! I'll have to save this idea for when I get my house in the Hamptons :D
That's a great idea, BUT primed canvas is not exactly cheap! I'll have to save this idea for when I get my house in the Hamptons :D
I think this is a great idea for a church or school classroom when you can't go outside!
good idea - those looking for templates, just open up a word processor (like MS Word), type in your numbers and adjust font type and size to what you want. Print and voila!
I used the heaviest plastic sold at the fabric stores (I think this is used to cover tablecloths) and then colorful plastic tape for the outlines. Use the peel and stick numbers or paint them on. The heavy plastic doesn't slide, but I put carpet rubber on the corners. It rolls up easily.
In my opinion, instructions on this site are generally obscure. Happy New Year Everyone.
Oh my gosh, it's hopscotch, they're numbers, we used to draw them on the sidewalk with chalk. You really don't need a template, do you? We actually draw a hopscotch board on the floor inside my house with chalk during the rainy times and sweep it right up when we're done, but this is nice.
I made something like this for my dd with a yoga mat and some colorful electrical tape. I secure the mat with quick release painters tape when she wants to play to keep the corners down.
Where are the template for the mat, I can't find them anywhere ?
meltons1
The TV show said that the number templates would be on the website for the Hopscotch Mat. I have looked for them and cannot locate.
Great idea! I wouldn't really want a template for this because of the size and printing at home restrictions. I would use some large number stencils and just make one from acetate for the lines. ( A short line to be used over and over would work...not TOO short, but something of manageable size...say 18 inches long.) An airbrush would be ideal for this...much faster.
The number template I'm looking for goes with the Kids Hopscotch Mat
The numbers template is not shown on the site as announced on the TV show. Is it available?