DIY Fun: Shapes Jump Game

This week’s DIY Fun is so simple and adaptable for different ages. Milo came up with part of the game, and I added some rules and helped with the shapes… but he and Oliver really ran with it!

Materials Needed:

• Large open concrete or blacktop space (like a driveway or paved area at an elementary school)
• Sidewalk chalk

First, draw several shapes large enough for a child to stand in, and far enough apart that a child could stand on every shape next to one another without feeling too crowded (if you are playing with more than one child). Next, draw another row using the same shapes above the first row. Only this time, mix up the order of the shapes. Keep going until you have several rows (we stopped at 5).

You can play with this pattern any way you want, but here’s what we did. As soon as the after school kindergarten kids Milo and Oliver love to play with came outdoors, Milo asked several children if they wanted to play (I didn’t take pictures because hello, I didn’t have parent or teacher permission to take photos of their kids, let alone post them on my blog). But imagine a child standing on each of the shapes in the first row. It was so cute! Next, I had Oliver call out random shapes. The child whose shape was called had to jump to his or her shape in the next row. And so on and so forth until they all make it to the other side.

Another way to play would be to use homemade dice made from paper with a different shape on each side. That way, the shape calling-out would be fair! The possibilities are endless, and encourage shape recognition, turn-taking, gross motor skills, and listening skills! Hope you try it some time. It was a lot of fun for these guys…

And Oliver ended up with chalk literally all over his face. I can see the spring happiness all over that dirty guy!

Hope you have a wonderful Thursday.