Rhyming Hopscotch

Introduction

Play a fun game of hopscotch with your child by using rhyming words instead of numbers.

Materials:

• Chalk
• Small rock

Directions:

• In your driveway, sidewalk or patio make a traditional hopscotch grid (see attached sample). You can add additional boxes or draw fewer boxes.
• Starting at the bottom box write one word in each box. For older children and a greater challenge have your child write all of the words in the boxes themselves. For younger children you can outline the letters in the words for them to trace. Write the following words:
• stump
• bump
• thump
• jump
• lump
• dump
• pump
• Have your child start at the bottom of the grid and toss the rock towards one of the squares. The two rules of hopscotch are to make sure that only one foot is in a square at one time and to hop over the square that the rock has landed in. Have your child say the words aloud as she lands on them.

Take it further:

Play rhyming hopscotch with other rhyming families. Try the following word families:

• "all" family: ball, call, fall, mall, small, tall, wall
• "ake" family: bake, cake, lake, make, rake, snake, wake
• "ap" family: cap, clap, map, nap, rap, snap, tap
• "at" family: bat, cat, hat, mat, rat, sat, that

Sentence hopscotch:

• Have your child write a sentence about something. Each word of the sentence will be in a different box. Have your child try to write several different sentences. The sentence could be about school, family, friends or a pet. Example: I have a dog that I love. Have your child read the sentence by reading the words as she steps on the words.

Letter hopscotch:

• Have your child write one letter in each box. Then have your child say the name of each letter as she jumps on that box. For a greater challenge, have your child say the sound that each letter makes as she jumps on the letter in the box.

Talk about it:

• What other outdoor games does your child like to play? Talk about what games you could play together outside. Have your child pick one of the games that you can both play together.