Hopscotch

A sample of "sidewalk art" we came across during one of our walks.

I remember playing serious hopscotch during recess on our school’s main sidewalk. It was wide and smooth; great for a big hopscotch board. Only girls. The boys didn’t want to play. They were more into leaping from the top of the slide or bashing each other while playing dodge ball.

But hopscotch was first created by men for men. Did you know hopscotch began as a military training exercise for Roman soldiers? It was supposed to help improve their agility so they could go out and conquer more land for the Caesars. Apparently, children imitated what they saw the soldiers doing and created a new game for themselves.

Hopscotch is played all over the world. According to a website by Dagonell the Juggler:
"The game is called "Marelles" in France, "Templehupfen" in Germany, "Hinkelbaan" in the Netherlands, "Ekaria Dukaria" in India, "Pico" in Vietnam and "Rayuela" in Argentina."

And the word, "hopscotch" is a combination of English and French.

Check out this site for more information and diagrams of hopscotch boards:
http://www-cs.canisius.edu/~salley/Articles/hopscotch.html

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