x
Breaking News
More () »

Hopscotch Heaven: Neighborhood creates course with 5,000 squares

A few days ago the daughter of Jacquie Mack grabbed her chalk and started designing an obstacle course in the street, and things took off from there.

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. — The so-called "new normal" doesn't have to be a bad thing... not if you like being outside, and have plenty of imagination. 

That is obviously the case with a bunch of kids and their "big kid" parents who live along Oak Avenue in Arden Hills. A few days ago Jacquie Mack's 6-year-old daughter Claire grabbed her chalk and started designing an obstacle course in the street. Wanting to chip in, Jacquie added 16 hopscotch squares to the work-in-progress, and then a neighbor girl named Grace came out and wanted to join in. 

The three of them set a goal of sorts, to make the hopscotch course wind around their cul-du-sac. They completed that, and while they were on their second loop around more neighbors came out to pick up chalk and "get their squares on."

Pretty soon the crew had completed 500 squares... then 1,000.... then 2,000.

Fast forward a couple of days, and the neighborhood's hopscotch haven now consists of more than 5,000 individual squares, and from start to finish is approximately 3/4 of a mile long (so far). More than 200 pieces of driveway chalk have been ground into dust. 

Credit: KARE
What started as a modest hopscotch and obstacle course with 16 squares has now grown to more than 5,000, winding 3/4 of a mile through Arden Hills.

In days where everyone from health officials to schools to parents are hammering home the necessity of social distancing, there is something amazing about a project that actually brings people closer (while still six feet apart). Jacquie says there's about 33 kids in the neighborhood, and estimates that half of them pitched in. 

The hope along Oak Avenue is that as the hopscotch course grows, so will the bond between the people who live there. 

"We’re so fortunate and grateful to have neighbors that are like family," Jacquie says.

RELATED: 5-year-old reaches goal: visits 67 waterfalls after COVID-19 shuts down her preschool

RELATED: Woman and sunfish form five-year friendship on Minnesota lake

Before You Leave, Check This Out