Hopscotch Play Guides

Psychoeducational Learning for Kids

About

Description: The Exploring with Ella series is designed to support social-emotional learning for children ages 4-10. Each activity is character-led and narrated by Ella, with engaging character illustrations that help children feel connected to the learning process. Through a combination of engaging narratives, Ella guides children in exploring topics such as conflict resolution, self-esteem, anxiety, anger, and more!

The activities are accompanied by supplementary materials found in the Related Resources section, which provide additional flexibility for use during sessions. These activities are adaptable and can be paced according to the clinician and client’s needs, whether in an individual, group, or classroom setting. Each activity also includes built-in discussion questions to promote deeper conversations and insight, making the series an effective tool for helping children develop emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills.

Ages: 4-10

How to Use

The Exploring with Ella series is flexible and can be used in a variety of settings.

Individual Setting
In one-on-one settings, the Exploring with Ella series can help introduce and teach kids about a variety of social-emotional topics related to their presenting concern.  With each activity, you're able to explore definitions, dive deeper about the impact of the issue, allow clients to personalize and share examples, and discuss helpful coping mechanisms collaboratively.  

The built-in discussion questions and prompts provide guidance in facilitating conversations and encouraging the child to reflect on their own experiences. Supplementary materials can be used to reinforce key concepts between sessions, or as additional resources to work on skills at the child’s own pace.

Group Settings

Exploring with Ella is perfect for small group settings, encouraging children to work collaboratively on themes like social skills and conflict resolution. The series promotes peer interaction, allowing children to share their own experiences and insights, while practicing empathy, active listening, and compromise. The group setting also helps normalize emotions, making it easier for children to relate to one another.

Start with the presentation as a group, allowing Ella’s story to introduce the topic. Facilitate group discussions using the provided questions to prompt each child to share their perspective. Activities can be adapted for partner work or group participation, helping children practice the skills they are learning in real-time. Supplementary materials can be used for extended group activities, ensuring that every child has the opportunity to engage fully with the topic.

Classroom Guidance Setting

In a classroom environment, Exploring with Ella can be used to incorporate social-emotional learning into a curriculum. The series is an effective tool for teaching children how to manage their emotions, work through conflicts, and build healthy self-esteem. It also supports a positive classroom culture by encouraging kindness, cooperation, and respect among students.

These activities can be used as part of a daily or weekly schedule, using the stories and activities to address social-emotional learning objectives. It can be adapted for individual, partner, or class-wide participation. Built-in discussion questions can guide class discussions, while supplementary materials provide additional tools for reinforcing the lessons outside of the designated lesson time.

Flexible, Engaging, and Effective: The Exploring with Ella series is designed to be versatile and easily integrated into various therapeutic or educational settings. With its built-in activities, discussion prompts, and supplementary materials, this series ensures that providers can address a range of emotional and social issues with children in a meaningful way, at their own pace. Whether used in an individual session, small group, or classroom, Exploring with Ella provides a strong foundation for helping kids develop the emotional skills they need for life.

About

Description: A simple but fun fast paced game where the players take turns to see who can drop in a row of four coins first.  Hopscotch Connect offers a great way for kids to develop their cognitive skills, social abilities, and emotional control. As children strategize to connect four pieces in a row, they enhance their planning, problem-solving, and critical thinking. This interactive game also encourages turn-taking, patience, and good sportsmanship, making it a fantastic tool for building social skills and cooperative play. 

Ages: 4-11

Themes: Competitive play, Social skills, Problem-solving, Self-management, Resilience, Executive functioning

Using Hopscotch Connect

Explain the game to the client, highlighting the goal of connecting four pieces in a row. Emphasize that it’s about having fun and practicing thinking skills.

Choosing a Color and Who Goes First

Gameplay

To take a turn, hover the coin over the column you would like to drop it into.  When you're ready to play, simply click, and it will drop it into that column.  Take turns dropping the coins into the rows and columns and try to get 4 in a row either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.  The first player to do so wins.  You can work on these skills during gameplay:

 As you continue playing, the game will keep track of win totals. Once you leave the game and return, the win totals will refresh and start anew. 

About

Description: Sammie, a scout, guides kids through 12 different breathing activities, including butterfly breathing, bunny breathing, rainbow breathing, star breathing, and lion breathing. Each video teaches a breathing technique, followed by practice sessions with the kids. After completing each video, kids earn a badge, making the learning process engaging and rewarding. These videos aim to help children manage stress, improve focus, and enhance their emotional regulation through fun and interactive breathing exercises.

Using Sammie's Breathing Videos in Session

Therapists can use Sammie's Breathing Videos as a tool to teach children effective relaxation techniques. Start sessions by selecting a video and practicing the breathing exercise together. Discuss how the child feels before and after the exercise to help them recognize the calming effects. Encourage children to use these techniques during stressful moments in their daily lives. Additionally, earning badges can be a motivational tool, reinforcing positive behavior and making the practice enjoyable. Use the videos to introduce mindfulness and create a routine that children can follow both in and out of therapy sessions.

Related Resources:
In the Hopscotch Play Print section, you will find badge PDFs that correspond with each breathing video. These can be printed for the client to decorate after watching and mastering each breathing technique.

About

Description: Calm Coloring is a therapeutic art board designed to support children's emotional well-being through mindfulness and creative expression. The game provides a blank art board where children can draw freely or utilize art therapy prompts that encourage exploration of feelings, family dynamics, personal history, and more. Accompanied by a playlist of relaxing music, Calm Coloring offers a calming environment for children to unwind and manage stress.  Calm Coloring also shows kids that coloring and creative can be an effective coping strategy.  For those using it as such, Grant, a supportive animated buddy appears with the tap of a button to provide encouragement and positive reinforcement during coloring sessions. 

Calm Coloring offers a range of benefits for children's mental and emotional development. By engaging in creative activities like drawing and using art prompts, children can express their emotions in a safe and supportive space. The integration of relaxation music promotes a sense of calmness and aids in stress reduction. Therapists can use Calm Coloring to teach coping skills and enhance emotional awareness.

Ages: 4-8

Themes: Expressive art, Emotinal Regulation, Mindfulness, Coping strategies, Self Management

Using Calm Coloring in Session

Calm Coloring has a wide range of uses in therapy.  You can use this activity how you might typically use a Whiteboard or doodle pad in sessions with young clients, while also still being able to incorporate the therapeutic tools that are offered during the game. 

Question Button
The Question Button when pressed triggers a prompt at the top of the canvas.  There are 100 pre-loaded questions and prompts that encourage clients to draw about their experiences, family dynamics, friendships, feelings, and more! 

Examples include:-What is something you wish for?
-Can you create a picture of your favorite dream?
-What does it look like when you feel lonely?
-Draw a picture of something that makes you feel calm. 
-What is your favorite coping skill?
-Draw a picture of what your family looks like when you’re all together.

Music Playlist

To create a calming atmosphere, clients can browse through a collection of relaxation music.

Grant Pop Up

Coloring and creativity can also be an effective coping mechanism for kids.  Calm Coloring includes a Grant button where he pops onto the screen with some encouraging and affirming words.  Clients can use this to hear 15 supportive statements as their coloring to calm down. 

Related Resources

In the Hopscotch Play Print section, you will find a PDF titled Calm Coloring Pages, a collection of coloring pages that can be printed and used by the child as they wish.  This collection can be placed in a calm corner or in their room where they can access the pages as needed. Encourage the child to try to create a calming environment (with music, if they choose) as they color in the home.  

About

Description: Treasure Hunt is a feelings memory game designed to teach kids about 16 different feelings words. The goal is to find correct matches and unlock the treasure chest. The game offers three difficulty levels, allowing kids to choose based on their age and skill level.  Games focused on teaching feeling words can help kids expand their feelings vocabulary which allows them to better express themselves during moments of heightened emotions.

This game can also help teach social cues and the importance of being able to identify feelings in others by observing facial expressions and body language.  Each character expressing a feeling is purposefully illustrated in full body to allow the child to observe non-verbal cues related to each feeling.

Ages: 4-8

Themes: Feelings identification, Social awareness, Feelings exploration, Empathy and understanding, Social Skills

Using Treasure Hunt in Session

Explore the 16 Feelings

Prior to playing Treasure Hunt with clients, it can be helpful to review our Feelings with Captain Francis activity also found in the Play category. This activity will cover all of the 16 feelings that are found in Treasure Hunt. These are common feelings experienced by kids, and each one includes a definition and a pirate-themed example.

Getting Started

After a short animated intro that includes Captain Francis and crew explaining the game to kids, you'll land on the menu screen with the three different adventures (levels) for your client to choose.  These include No Man's Isle (Easy - 3x2), Cave of the Unnamed (Medium - 4x3), and the Sea of Sunken Ships (Hard - 5x4).  Clicking on any of these will take you and your client into the level.

Using Treasure Hunt

Treasure Hunt is a memory game and on it's own can help clients learn to identify different feelings words and definitions in a fun way.  As with many of our games, you are able to put your own spin on it! Here are some additional ideas for use:

Take Turns

Treasure Hunt is a game that can be played competitively between provider and client to see who can find the most matches.  Introducing competitive play within session can help clients work on emotional regulation, turn-taking, resilience, coping skills, and flexibility.

Feelings Exploration

Every time the client finds a correct match, to further explore feelings, you can ask them to:

1. Share an example of when they have experienced that feeling before. 

2. Share examples of when they've noticed that feeling in someone else (a friend, family member, fictional character, etc.)

3. Share a reason that might cause someone to experience that feeling

4. Act out the identified feeling word

5. Make up a short story that includes the feeling word

Social Cues

-Use Treasure Hunt to teach clients about social cues (such as facial expression and body language) for different emotions .  For each feeling, you can ask them how they are able to tell a character might be feeling a certain way.   

Playing Treasure Hunt
After clicking into a map, your client can begin playing to try to find matching feeling words. They can flip over each card by clicking directly on the squares to see and hear the feeling word. For each correct match, the cards stay flipped over, but if the match is incorrect, they will turn back over.

Feelings Spotlight

Once all of the matches have been identified, you've cracked the code and found the gold! After a congratulations from Captain Francis, clients are presented with a Feelings Spotlight. This special feature highlights one of the 16 feelings, giving the child a chance to dive deeper and learn more about the selected feeling word.  After the spotlight, clients can choose to play on the same level with a new randomized set of cards, or they can return to the menu to choose a different adventure.

Related Resources

As mentioned earlier, it is helpful to pair this game with our therapeutic activity, Feelings with Captain Francis, which is also found in the Play category.  In the Hopscotch Play Print section, you will find a PDF titled How ARRR You Feeling Today? which is a feelings chart include the 16 feelings and characters found in the Treasure Hunt.  This is a great tool that you can print to send home with a client or send electronically to a caregiver.  The client can put this handout in their room, in a calm down corner, in a folder at school, or anywhere else for when they need a helping hand to calm down and refocus.

Let's get you started with Hopscotch Play! This guide will help you create your account, access content, and use it with your clients. Scroll through or use the links below to jump straight to the information you need. 

• Creating Your Account
• Provider Dashboard
• Adding a Client
• Enter the Hopscotch Play Library
• Learning More
• Using Hopscotch Play with Virtual Clients

[#create]Creating Your Account[#create]

When launching Hopscotch Play, you will be prompted to create a PIN. This 4-digit PIN is what you will use to log into the platform every time that it is launched. You can also add a name for your profile at this stage.

[#dashboard]Provider Dashboard[#dashboard]

Once you log in to your Hopscotch Play account, you'll land on your provider dashboard. This is your command center where you can view your account information, access the Getting Started video, submit feature or content requests, access support, and launch Hopscotch Play. Remember, support is always available if you have any technical issues or questions.

[#adding]Adding a Client[#adding]

Click on the Launch HP button to get started! This will take you to the Who's Playing screen.  Here you can add individual client accounts. Get started by simply selecting Add New.

In the dropdown, you will find a list of your active Hopscotch clients.  You can select the client you'd like to create a profile for and choose an avatar.

The client's account will then appear on the Who's Playing page.  Click on the avatar to enter their individual client account.

[#library]Enter the Hopscotch Play Library[#library]

Our library is divided into categories. Each category is filled with engaging and therapeutic resources for your sessions.

Play: Therapeutic games and activities
Read: Social-emotional and social stories
Watch: Animated breathing videos
Relax: Guided meditations
Listen: Audio stories and ambient sounds
Laugh: Kid-friendly jokes
Groove: Relaxation music
Print: PDF Printables

[#more]Learning More[#more]

As you browse the library, you can learn more about each piece of content by hovering over the icons in each category.  This will provide you with the content title and a brief description.  

When you click on a piece of content, a side drawer will emerge that will contain a brief description as well as therapeutic themes explored.  Scrolling down further will show you related resources that you can use to supplement the game or activity.  To jump into the content, you can select the yellow Play button that is visible on the title image.

**Please keep in mind that when launching a game/activity for the first time, it may take between 30-45 seconds to load.  Every future open will be quicker.

How to Use Button

The yellow How to Use button on the description drawer will launch a pop-up that contains a detailed description and walkthrough of the content along with tips on how to put it into practice with your clients.

Pinning and Just for Me
You can pin activities or games for your upcoming session and access the client's Just for Me tab during the session to easily find your pinned resources.

[#virtual]Using Hopscotch Play with Virtual Clients[#virtual]

Hopscotch Play is a platform that can be used virtually with Hopscotch Provider Network clients through the features available in Zoom.

1. Enter your client's profile
2. When you're on the menu screen, Share the screen with your client
3. While sharing your screen, the option for Remote Control  will appear in the options bar.  To enable, you can select Remote Control, and then Give Mouse/Keyboard Control to your client. The Remote Control feature will allow your client to take control of your screen.  Once they receive control, they will be able to move the mouse on your screen and interact with the content within Hopscotch Play in realtime.  You can learn more about it here.

4. You can click Remote Control again and select Stop Remote Control to regain control.