Children draw a sliced circle with chalk and jump over the slices.
Draw, or have the children draw, the hopscotch circle on the ground.
Have the children draw lines to divide the circle equally into “slices.”
Materials
- Sidewalk chalk
Preparation
- Find an open safe space big enough to draw circles on the pavement.
- Gather the sidewalk chalk.
Directions
- Tell the children that they are going to play a jumping game, but first they have to practice drawing equal slices on the circle so they can help draw the jumping circle. Demonstrate by drawing a small circle on the pavement.
- Give each child a piece of chalk and ask everyone to draw a similar circle.
- Next, model how to divide the circle into equal slices. Draw a line from one side of your circle to the opposite side to divide it in half. Ask the children to do the same. Draw another line across the circle from top to bottom to divide the circle into quarters. Ask the children to do the same. Finally, draw two diagonal lines across the circle to divide it into eighths. Have the children do the same.
- After the children have practiced drawing their own circles and dividing them equally into eighths, choose a child to draw a large, four- to five-foot circle in chalk on the pavement.
- Then chose different children to divide the circle into halves, quarters, and eighths. Have them refer to their small circles, as needed. Write one number (1, 2, 3, or 4) in a random sequence in each slice of the circle. For each slice, draw the same number of large dots (i.e., the number 3 and three dots).
- Demonstrate how to jump from slice to slice (for instance, from 2 to 2 to 2). Then have the children take turns jumping from one slice to the next using any or all of these game ideas:
- Call out and have the children jump on 1, then 2, then 3, then 4.
- Call out the numbers in random order.
- Hold up fingers to indicate the number for the children to jump on.
- Tell the children to jump twice on each number called out.
- Try calling out a number that’s not in the circle, and see how the children react.
Note: Children can jump across or around the circle. Adjust the challenge based on the children’s familiarity with numerals and small quantities: Use only 1, 2, and 3 to simplify the game, or use 3, 4, and 5 to add challenge.