Make an Indoor Hopscotch for Rainy Days
Make a cardboard hopscotch for a fun indoor activity for toddlers and preschoolers. Great way to burn off steam when you’re stuck inside on rainy days.
When the weather is nice and we’re playing outside, the kids get lots of gross motor activity doing all of their favourite things in the backyard.
It’s not so easy for kids to burn off their energy and use their muscles in a big way when they’re indoors though.
This cardboard hopscotch gives kids the perfect excuse to hop and jump and move around when they’re cooped up inside. And if you’re like me, and you like making homemade toys and games for your kids, you’ll have fun with it too.
Gather up some cardboard and I’ll show you how it’s done.
Supplies:
- Cardboard (large cereal boxes and frozen pizza boxes perfect)
- Scissors
- Pencil
- Acrylic Craft Paint
- Paintbrushes
Making your Cardboard Hopscotch
Figure out the design you want for your hopscotch and how many squares you’ll need. Ours is 9 squares and a half circle with the number 10 on it at the top.
Then I drew my numbers on the cardboard squares and painted them with acrylic craft paints. I outlined the numbers with a thin liner brush and black paint.
You can find number templates here to print and trace if you’re not comfortable drawing your numbers free-hand.
Arrange your squares on the floor and get hopping!
Letting your child re-arrange the hopscotch is a great way to work on counting skills and number recognition.
We used our hopscotch on carpet downstairs and also on the mat that you see here on the main floor, and our squares didn’t slide around too much.
If your hopscotch squares are slippery
If you’re going to try this on a wood floor, make sure you test to see how slippery it will be first.
You can always run a few lines of puffy paint along the back of the squares if you’re concerned about the cardboard sliding. I know several moms who use this method to “slip-proof” their children’s socks.
Homemade hopscotch markers
Don’t forget the bean-bag “hopscotch stones”. If you want to sew some cute ones, I used the pattern for these sweet pyramid beanbags from The Artful Parent.
And that, my friends, is all there is to making an indoor cardboard hopscotch for your toddlers and preschoolers.
What a great way to get the kids moving when the weather’s too nasty for them to be outside!
Happy Hopping!
For more fun indoor play ideas, check out this awesome collection of 30+ stuck inside games and activities by Kids Activities Blog!
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Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She specializes in kids’ crafts and activities, easy recipes, and parenting. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.
