Toddler Hopscotch

Thought I'd share an activity I did in class today.

After rising to the '100 Thing Challenge' (get rid of 100 unwanted/unused items from your house), I had a box full of unwanted junk.

In it were a few old IKEA place mats that were still in good condition so I didn't want to part with them just yet. So, as with most unwanted junk in my house, I took it to work for a re-purposed future.

I had 4 beige cloth ones and two green foam ones. I threw them down on the ground and the kids immediately turned it into a game of stepping stones/ hop scotch.

Last week we used bubble wrap with numbers on it, but it was a bit slippery at times.

These place mats didn't slip, regardless of how many little feet ran over them and it's a much safer option than walking over the blocks, as the children like to do when we are not watching.

I considered writing big numbers onto them, but the children then used some of them in the house centre (to set their table) and they also grabbed the foam alphabet letters and started sorting them by colour onto each of the place mats. The green ones were rather stiff so they were used as trays for carrying around various toys.

So, no numbers for now because clearly they are a versatile resource and I'd hate to confine them to one purpose. I wonder what else my little cherubs will use them for...