Building a kids obstacle course is the perfect way to get the wiggles out. Whether it's a cold winter day or too rainy to go outside, a DIY obstacle course for kids will save the day. A fantastic opportunity for exercise, making an indoor obstacle course will also give your kids’ brains a workout.
Top Kids Obstacle Course Ideas
So, are you ready to learn how to DIY an obstacle for kids? Your obstacle course can have it all! Add activities that boost physical activity and build gross motor skills alongside challenges that make your child think.
Here are 15 ideas to create your own unique indoor obstacle course:
1. Climb the Mountain
Create a mountain to climb using furniture, a Pikler triangle, or having your child run up a flight of stairs. To make this indoor obstacle course idea even more fun, have your child attach a flag to the top of the mountain.
2. Hopscotch
Use painter’s tape to create a hopscotch course on the floor as a fun part of your kids obstacle course.
3. Shoot Baskets
Set up a laundry basket and some soft balls. Then, challenge your child to make as many baskets as possible! You can use a piece of tape to set a boundary from which they must shoot.
4. Cross the Crocodile River
Challenge your child to make their way across the crocodile river by hopping on stepping stones. If you don’t have stepping stones, you can also use pillows to represent rocks. To add to the excitement, make a “Crocodile River” sign. Also, put paper crocodiles in the “water” to represent the dangerous creatures!
5. Complete the Stacking Challenge
Challenge your child to build a tower using ten blocks. For older children, you can increase the challenge by asking them to create a cup tower.
6. Make it Across the Bridge
Place a balance surfer board upside down on the floor and challenge your child to walk over it. Or line up some chairs and have your child carefully walk over them as a part of your indoor obstacle course.
7. Crawl Through a Tunnel
This obstacle course idea involves climbing through a tunnel! If you don’t have an actual tunnel, cover your Pikler triangle with a blanket. Or, use chairs and a blanket to create a tunnel through which your child must crawl.
8. Match the Post-Its
Exercise your child’s brain with this fun kids obstacle course idea. Place two sets of matching post-it notes across the room from each other. The sets could focus on matching colors, shapes, or letters! Then, encourage your child to take one post-it at a time and find it's match on the other side of the room.
If your child is older, place post-it's all over the room. Put a number on each one. Then, ask your child to collect them and put the numbers in order. Or, put one letter on each post-it and have your child figure out what word it spells.
9. Balance on the Beam
Set up a balance beam that your child must walk across! If you don’t have a balance beam, you can set up a straight line of tape that your child must walk on, foot to heel.
Want more balancing? Add a zig zag line for your child to balance on as well!
10. Hop in the Sack
Give your child a burlap sack or old pillowcase and a starting and end point. Then, challenge your little one to hop to the finish line!
11. Ball on the Spoon Challenge
This indoor obstacle course idea involves balancing a ping pong ball or lemon on a spoon and moving as quickly as they can to the next challenge. Make it more difficult by having your child hold the spoon in their mouth.
12. Writing Challenge
Depending on your child’s ability, the writing challenge can involve tracing or writing their full name on a whiteboard. Put this activity between more physically challenging tasks to add variety to your kids obstacle course.
13. Bean Bag Balance
Ask your child to walk to the next step of the kids obstacle course while balancing a bean bag on their head!
14. Match the Numbers
Place a set of post-its with numbers from 1-10 and 10 bowls with different numbers of objects in them (1 cheerio, 2 balls, 3 pom poms, etc.) across the room from each other. Ask your child to grab a post it, run across the room, and place it on the corresponding bowl. Repeat until finished!
15. Somersault to Victory!
Challenge your child to do a somersault or two. You can set up a play mat or blanket to make it more comfortable.
Bringing the Kids Obstacle Course Together
String together as many of these obstacle course ideas as you’d like to create a fun activity! Involve your child as much as possible, as they’ll also probably enjoy setting everything up.
To bring everything together, you can tape arrows to the floor that show your child where to go next. Then, before beginning the course, walk through the course together and talk through each of the steps.
Younger children can enjoy a simple DIY obstacle course with only 3-5 activities. Older kids may enjoy the challenge of a bunch of activities throughout the house.
After your child has completed the course once, why not time them? Kids love trying to beat their own time.
Many of these ideas would work for both indoor and outdoor obstacle courses. So, if the sun comes out, try them outside, too. Most importantly, have fun and enjoy the experience!
Have you ever made a DIY obstacle course for kids? Tell us about your experience below! We'd love to hear from you.
Looking for more indoor activities? Try these sensory activities or these fun Montessori-inspired kitchen projects.
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