Playing hopscotch can offer incredible benefits by steadily improving your capacity for high-impact movements, says Mark Schneider, a Minneapolis-based strength coach and founder of The Retreat Strength Gym. Because the game offers some structure, it can also be a great way to encourage playful movement with a sense of direction and purpose.
“Structured games like hopscotch encourage focused attention on the task at hand while still allowing the body to solve problems in its own way,” Schneider explains. “There’s no emphasis on perfect form — just a simple set of constraints to guide exploration.”
How to do it:
- Draw a hopscotch grid on the ground with chalk or scratch it into some dirt. Or, if you are doing this indoors, imagine the hopscotch grid on the floor in front of you.
- Begin hopping through the grid. If you’re using a drawn grid, land inside of each solo square on one foot and land on both feet simultaneously in the side-by-side squares. (If using an imaginary grid, alternate landing on either one or two feet with each hop forward as if you were jumping into squares.) Once you get to the end, turn around and hop back.
- Increase the challenge by tossing a flat stone or other object in one square, skipping that square as you hop. Skip a different square each round. Or try hopping through all the squares with one leg only — or hop backward through your grid. Feel free to practice solo or play with friends.
Troubleshooting:
If you struggle with balance, start small. “At its core, if you can walk, you can ‘scotch,” says Schneider. “The hopping component can be introduced over time, but the essence of the game — movement along a path with rhythm and coordination — can be accomplished through simple stepping.”
Imagine a line on the ground. Begin with your feet straddling the line, then step forward with one foot landing on the line. Follow this by stepping into a straddle position again, then step forward with the other foot on the line. Repeat this pattern: Step, straddle, step, straddle. From there, you can try increasing the speed of your steps. As your speed progresses, the movement will naturally evolve into a light hop.
Playfully Strong
Play is proven to boost physical and mental health — for kids and adults alike. But what does play look and feel like once we’re grown and prone to injury? And how can we get more of it in our lives? Explore “How Play-Inspired Moves Can Boost Your Fitness” (from which this article was excerpted, for more ideas to add playfully fit moves to your workout.
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