How to make a reusable hopscotch path
Measure, mark and draw ten 220mm squares on your plywood. You will draw the noughts and crosses shapes inside these.
For the noughts, drill a screw in the centre of one square about a third of the way into your wood. Measure and cut a 215mmm piece of string and tie it to the screw.
Tie a pencil to the other end of the string and use that to draw a perfect circle each time. Do the same with a 90mm piece of string to draw the inner circle.
For the crosses, mark the centre point in a square and use your ruler to draw a cross from corner to corner. Then measure up and mark the width of your cross.
Use your jigsaw to cut the nought out of the plywood. You can use this as a template to make the other noughts. When you've cut the circle, use your router to cut the inside circle out.
Use your jigsaw to cut the cross out of the plywood. You can use this as a template to make the other crosses.
Sand the edges of your noughts and crosses with an electric sander.
Then paint your noughts and crosses any colour you like. We've used bright colours for a bit of fun.
To create the borders for your game area, take the four sleepers, lay them out in a border and tack on a temporary brace.
Hammer a star picket on each corner and screw the sleepers together. You can also paint the sleepers first to help define the area better.
Pack and level the inside of your border with sand, making sure you don't overfill it. Leave about 40mm between the surface of the sand and top edge of the sleepers.
Evenly place nine pavers on the sand inside the border, leaving about 150mm between each paver. Gently hammer each paver with a rubber mallet and use your level to make sure they're even. We also painted our pavers before we started, to liven them up.
Pour some bark around the pavers and evenly spread it out. You can use any colour you like but we've chosen black to make the pavers stand out.
The rules of the game are simple. Each player chooses a shape and takes turns placing them on the pavers. The first to get three of their shapes in a horizontal, vertical or diagonal row, wins.