Global Hopscotch

Apparently, the kids in your neighborhood aren't the only ones who are playing hopscotch. Here, in Romanian, English, Spanish, French, German and Catalan, the author explains:

"Hopscotch began in ancient world during the early Roman Empire. Roman soldiers for military training used the original hopscotch exercises. Then they exported the game to children throughout Europe. Roman children drew their own hopscotches imitating the soldiers by adding a scoring system. It is unknown the way hopscotch spread in the rest of the world. A lot of versions exist on all continents. The game is called 'Marelles' in France, 'Templehupfen' in Germany, 'Hinkelbann' in the Netherlands and 'Rayuela' in Argentina."

Hopscotch is only one of the games that unite the children of our world. Children's Folkgames, the result of a six-month collaboration between educators and kids everywhere, provides reassuring evidence of the unity of the world's children, listing games from Bulgaria, Chile, China, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Paraguay, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Uganda and the USA. It is a remarkable resource, and powerful reminder.