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Hopscotch
Finding Fitness Through a Childhood Game
By Penny Powell
So out to the backyard patio we returned. With sidewalk chalk I drew 10 hopscotch squares while Caleb numbered them. Then, we hopped and hopped for about an hour and a half – or was it two? Caleb loved all of the jumping and balancing combined with the challenge of getting a rock to land in a specific square. I could feel the youth that still lives within my 38-year-old body as I hopped briskly from square 1 to 10, happily spun around and then hopped from 10 down to square 1 again. I hopped faster for a higher intensity workout! When bending, I concentrated on the form I used to pick up the rock as I inhaled nature. This was my yoga!
"Mom, I have an idea," Caleb later exclaimed. "The next time we play hopscotch, we can use my plastic sword or something like that to wave close to the ground while the other person is hopping. Say it's your turn, you'll have to try and hop in the squares without letting the sword touch your feet."
In support of his creativity and imagination, I replied, "That will make the game even more challenging, huh?"
Caleb's suggestion sparked my creativity. I glanced over at our rock bed and thought what a great opportunity to reinforce his knowledge about the three classes of rocks!Since we were already using a rock as our game piece to toss in the squares, why not have a choice between an igneous, metamorphic or sedimentary rock? Off to the rock bed we went in search of one of each kind and then we placed them on three different squares on the hopscotch board.
