Summer Activities: Four Square Game

by Jill Greenlaw on June 1st, 2014 | 1 Comment »

Summer is a great time to get outdoors and play ball. Four square is a perfect game to play outdoors and to help you get some exercise. The only things you need to play the game is a rubber ball, a patch of cement, four friends and some chalk.

Four Square Game

Items Needed

Rubber bouncy ball the size of a soccer ball
Sidewalk chalk
Patch of cement
4 friends

Instructions

With the sidewalk chalk, draw one large square on the cement at least 6 feet wide.
Divide this square into 4 equal sized squares.
Each of the squares should be marked A,B,C, and D.

Four Square Rules

Each player stands in one of the four squares.
To start the game, the player in square four serves the ball by bouncing it in their square once and then hitting it towards one of the other squares. The receiving player then hits the ball to any other player in one of the other squares.
The ball must bounce in another player's square, and they must hit it to another player before it bounces a second time.
A player may hit the ball before it bounces, if they choose to do so.
If a player hits the ball so that it misses another player's square, or fails to hit the ball before the second bounce after it has landed in their square, they are "out".
When a player is out, the other players move up to take their place, and that player moves to the last square, or to the end of the line, if there are more than four players.
The object of the game is to move up to and hold the server's position.

Four Square Variations

Instead of numbering the squares A-D, you can play the game by naming the squares Ace, King, Queen, President, or in some other ranking order.
If you have eight or more players, you can have two players for each square. Each time a player hits the ball to another square, they will jump out of the court, and their partner will jump in. The two players will keep trading places each time the ball is hit towards their square.
When players bounce the ball, they must also call out the name of a country, a state an animal, a movie star, or whatever the category may be. A player is out if they repeat something that's already been said.

Download this printable for complete game instructions.