My goal is to show you how to make obstacle courses for your kiddos. But first off, why are obstacle courses such a great activity? For one, they are fun and kids love them! Second, you can make them practically anywhere, whether outside or inside, and you most likely have everything you need to put one together. And third, so many skills can be addressed when setting up, performing, and cleaning up the obstacle course.
Before getting into the materials and construction of the obstacle course let’s talk about the importance and skills that can be addressed. On the outside it may just look like play, but when it comes to OT, there is so much more. I like to call it playing with a purpose!
Skills Learned
Engaging in obstacle courses can help kids attend to and follow directions, learn body orientation, and sequencing skills. It challenges their memory having to recall the order and tasks which they are supposed to perform. Kids work on motor planning, figuring out how to get through an obstacle, and how to get from one obstacle to another. Obstacle courses can challenge kids to work on coordination, strength, balance, body awareness, and safety. They can help with gravitational insecurities and reflex integration. Obstacle courses can also help with regulating the body, providing input to those kiddos who need extra energy, as well as providing the input needed to help calm and regulate those kiddos with higher energy.
Materials
When coming up with an obstacle course the options are endless! You can have a circular course where you start and finish at the same point, or you can have a more linear, point A to point B type of course. Be creative and use your imagination! The following are items and materials that you may already have to begin setting up your obstacle course.
Pillows and cushions: These can be used to jump/hop onto, into, over, or through. Be careful using these on smooth slippery surfaces.
Towels, blankets, or rugs: Roll them lengthwise to use as balance beams to walk across.
Couch, sofa, or ottoman: These can be climbed on, crawled over, and jumped off of. Jumping and landing can provide proprioceptive input to the joints/body to help with grounding and regulation, while also working on balance and body awareness to land without falling. Be safe when jumping from elevated surfaces.
Tables, chairs, blankets: Use these to crawl under. Put blankets over to make a tunnel or cave. Kids can crawl on their hands and knees, on their bellies like an army or snake crawl, or any other animal type of crawl depending on the clearance height.
Area rugs, blankets: These may define an area to perform specific movements within such as doing a certain number of jumping jacks or exercises upon. It may act as an area to navigate across with kids performing animal crawls, hops, jumps, somersaults, or log rolls to provide proprioceptive and vestibular input, body awareness and control.
Water bottles, canned food: Don’t have cones? Use these to weave in and out of. You can use anything really, such as stuffed animals, toys, pillows. Be creative!
Stuffed animals, plastic cups, balls, etc.: Set up targets! Set these items along the course or within a certain obstacle to work on hand-eye coordination. Make sure the area is safe and that breakables are out of the area.
Painters tape: This is very versatile! Make your own style of path such as heel-toe walking for balance, forming a boundary to stay within or navigate along, or tape areas to hop onto getting from one place to another.
Sidewalk chalk: Use this to make obstacle course paths outside! It can be used similar to the painters tape, with more colors. Let the kiddos help! They can work on ideation, planning, sensory input, and fine motor skills.
Patio furniture and cushions: Use these as part of an outdoor obstacle course.
As you can see, the options can be endless. There are often things that you can come up with even if you don’t have the resources or budget that you thought you may have needed. Just use your imagination and have fun!
Of course there are many fun and interesting items that you can purchase to add variety and interest to your obstacle course. A bonus is that many of the items can be used aside from just being used in obstacle courses which is also beneficial. Some items may include, but are not limited to, balance beams, mini trampolines, scooter boards, cones, swings, foam mats, crash pads, accordion tunnels, and sensory discs. If you have them I would encourage you to incorporate them into your obstacle courses. But since these may not be accessible to everyone, I want to provide you with a do-it-yourself approach with what you may have on hand.
Now that the materials are established, it is important to plan the obstacle course based on your kiddos and their abilities, and adjust from there. Shorter obstacles courses would be more appropriate for the littles and those with lower attention span. You can always add obstacles as they progress.
5 step obstacle course.
Okay, let the fun begin! Here is an example of a 5 step obstacle course!
Begin with a defined starting point.
Obstacle #1: Jump from pillow to pillow (4-6). Vary the distance as needed.
Obstacle #2: Crawl under and through the table cave tunnel.
Obstacle #3: Climb onto the couch and do a somersault or just crawl lengthwise (be present for balance and safety). Jump to the floor for kiddos with better balance. Smaller kids can work on safety awareness and body control scooting to the floor feet first with bellies against the couch.
Obstacle #4: Logroll lengthwise across a blanket. This movement can be difficult for kids to coordinate.
Obstacle #5: Bear or crab crawl weaving around 3-4 water bottles to the finish!
I often make a visual schedule of the obstacle course as a resource for the kiddos to refer to as needed, as well as providing check boxes to mark off as they go. (Learn how to make a visual schedule here.) It helps them to understand the expected number of times to go around and how many cycles are left. Having the visual to check off can help kids reset while regulating before resuming to transition into another round. You can use a white board or even a scratch or blank piece of paper. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Visual schedules are great! But we’ll talk about that another time. Here is an example of a visual schedule of the 5 step obstacle course.
I hope this information and these suggestions have spurred ideas of your own! Obstacle courses are such a great activity. You can use them as a movement or sensory break. Add them to the day for a fun activity. Alternate different tasks with the obstacle course. For example, have your kiddo trace a shape, write a word or sentence, or even clean up 3 things from the living room before performing the next round. Again, the options are endless. Remember, use your imagination, be creative, and have fun!
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