This blog is all about OBSTACLE COURSES! Dr. McIntyre LOVES obstacles courses during treatment sessions because they work on balance, gross motor skills, coordination, strength, and control! Kids LOVE obstacle courses during sessions because they are fun and engaging. To make an awesome obstacle course all you need is a little imagination…plenty of space (outside or inside)…and the readiness to have A LOT of fun!
Let’s dive into some tried and true ways to create (a not so expensive) obstacle course that will be challenging and rewarding for your family!
This is an example of an obstacle course that Dr. Megan puts together for her clients.
For this course she used a puzzle for an incentive, ramp for balance and strength, balance pods for balance, gym mat to crawl under, half foam roller for a balance beam, hoops to encourage broad jumping, and a BOSU ball for balance to put the puzzle together!
Building Your Own:
First things first - it is an obstacle course which means it needs LOT OF OBSTACLES!!! Pick at least 5 different “tasks” to make sure your course is long enough to be entertaining. Depending on your child’s attention span, you may not want to do more than 10 tasks as this may make the course too long to repeat several times or complete at all. Basically you want your course to be challenging but easy enough they can be successful - this beautiful combination will boost their confidence at the same time as improving their strength, balance, and coordination!
Secondly - Having an “incentive” to complete the course is always a good idea too! Whether it be completing a puzzle one piece at a time, doing it for speed to see who can be fastest, or making a learning course with colors, shapes, vocab or simple math questions after each task (depends on what your child is working on/learning at the time), this can be an added component to increase the FUN of the course and make the activity last for a long time! (always good when it comes to entertaining kids!)
Third - Most courses can be built with materials you ALREADY have at home! Or with Dollar store items so they don’t have to be expensive or lengthy to build! Of course you can get fancy and build obstacles from wood or other materials but if you aren’t handy you can build one just as fun without those things! Just let you imagination rule (or a few ideas from this blog!)
Alright here are some fun ideas and suggestions for your own course:
Balance activity:
Always important for an obstacle course! Here are some ideas for balance activities:
Walking across pillows
Taping a balance path (can be straight like a beam or zig zag for more fun!)
If you have “river stones” or balance pods - make a “don’t touch the floor its lava” scenario!
Carrying something:
A great way to work on hand eye coordination and attention!
Egg/spoon race
(for outside) carry a water balloon without breaking it through the whole course - then you get to smash it at the end!
Bean bag on their head while they walk across a balance beam (works on body awareness too!)
Animal Walks:
A fun way to get their whole body involved and mind working on how to move like a certain animal!
Animal walk (crab/bear/kangaroo) from cone to cone or down a hallway
Frog hop from pillow to pillow - what noise does a frog make?
Have them spell an animal’s name then pretend to be that animal
Sliding:
Because who doesn’t love sliding?
Put socks on feet and hands - have to slide down the hallway with hands and feet on the ground with the decreased friction - don’t let your knees elbows or belly touch the ground!
Run and slide and see how far they can slide down the hallway - the length dictates a math or vocab question they get!
Tradition slide outside if you have a playground you can integrate into your outside obstacle course!
Agility activity:
Quick feet quick feet! Works on coordination, balance, and of course, agility!
Pool noodle “tire run” - if you have tires awesome! if you don’t you can make circles out of pool noodles and tape them together
Cone weave- run as fast as you can weaving through a line of cones
Shuttle Run - have your child run a bean bag from cone to cone in a zig zag motion dropping one bean bag and picking up another before running for the next cone
Throwing/catching/kicking something:
Works on hand-eye coordination, coordination, and is really good for social play
Pool noodle javelin - throw a pool noodle like a javelin through a pool noodle bent into a circle
Kick a series of balls through goals or targets
Make a bean bag catching “stomper” - basically a wedge and a longer board- place a bean bag on one end and they have to stomp on the other to toss the bag in the air and then catch it!
Lights out!
Yep - turn those lights out! Use glow sticks or flashlights to navigate the course!
Crawling:
Works on whole body coordination, strength, and body awareness
Army crawl under string/streamer strung between pieces of furniture - don’t touch it! Its electric!
Laser course - take string and tie it at various angles throughout a room - they have to crawl under, through, over, sideways, etc without touching the lasers to get to the prize on the other side (think crown jewel heist!)
Make a tunnel out of blankets or purchase a play tunnel to crawl through, outside bend noodles in to a U shape and crawl under them
Jumping:
Bounce, bounce, bounce! Addresses strength, balance, and coordination
Use pool noodles to set up hurdles - outside use pens to help them stay in a U shape to jump over or inside put the noodle between two stools- change the height of the U to change the challenge or height of the stools
Going back to pillows or river rocks - have them jump between them working on jumping further and further!
Jumping down or up onto something - off a step or onto the couch - whatever works at your house!
I hope this blog gave you some great ideas for building your own obstacle course at home whether it be inside or outside! Share your obstacle course designs on our Facebook page! I would love to see your creativity!