Hopscotch

Around Christmas time I had several birthday parties to attend and I was/am on a big making gifts kick. I was trying to brainstorm original ideas and it struck me one day when it was really cold and Luli wanted to go outside and play hopscotch...INDOOR HOPSCOTCH! So I thought it through and made three sets, which turned out to be quite time consuming. Luli received her's (and Fiona's) at her fourth birthday party in January, rather than the intended Christmas gift! I was really pleased with how they came out and I'm happy to share the result with you all.

Necessities

9 vibrant colored felt squares (x2)

Corresponding colored embroidery floss

Water soluble marking instrument

scissors

Flannel material for been bags

Machine washable fabric glue (not necessary but definitely a sanity saver)

Needle

TIME!

I found a font on the computer that I really liked the number looks of, then made the numbers really large so they'd be my pattern. Cut out all the numbers 1-9, then trace them to a felt square. I do recommend you trace them to the side of the square so you can use the other half for another project or another set of hopscotch numbers. Then cut out all the numbers. Set out the 9 uncut felt squares and then play around with color coordination by moving numbers around the squares until you find the set up you like best. I had to stand back several times and enlist Oscar's help in getting the right set up. I recommend you glue each number to the squares because it's so much easier when sewing. Though minimally glue in the center of the number because getting your needle through the glued area is a real pain. I then used the embroidery floss that matched the full square (ie. red square with blue number gets sewn with red floss) and simply sewed all the way around.

Bean Bags: I used this rainbow flannel that I already had laying around and thought it went well with the colorfulness of the project. I cut out a piece that I guesstimated on size, then used that as the pattern for following bags. Folded the fabric in half, sewed up the three sides with an opening to insert beans/rice/whatever. I used rice to fill (because you can also use that as a cold pack from the freezer) then I folded in the opening and edge stitched around all four sides catching the opening. I did this on my machine so it did require some constant rice moving attention.

When giving as a gift I like to include the directions to playing hopscotch, because I had forgotten so I figure maybe other people have too. I found them here. I would also like to note that the felt is crazy slippery on hard surfaces so make sure you use it on a rug or carpet.

NOTE: I went with machine washable glue because I figured jumping on the squares would get them dirty and eventually they'd need to be washed. I'm not really sure how the felt would hold up in the machine, but time will tell.