Kids love to jump, crawl, swing, and more. Most of them know what an obstacle course is, especially since the world looks like one when you’re small. Having them race through homemade obstacle courses throughout your living room can definitely keep them busy.
The ideal obstacle course should be easy to construct and reconstruct, challenging, fun, and silly. However, it should also be safe — which is the most important of it all.
A Living Room Obstacle Course
You will need the following to build the ideal living room obstacle course for your kids.
- Items to jump over, from, and onto. These can be interlocking foam mats or tumbling mats. Ropes, cushions, pillows, toys, and stable pieces of furniture.
- Things that the kids can crawl under and/or through. If your kids don’t have a play tunnel, you can always set up a sheet for them to crawl under — army style.
- Items that can be thrown. Making a station where you have to aim and throw things can be fun and it can also help the kids develop their throwing skills at a younger age.
- Balancing items. These can be homemade balance beams if you don’t have real ones. You can designate certain items on the floor of the living room as safe zones while the rest is lava.
How to Play
This is where you can get creative and make up your own rules. Build a few different stations with their own challenges. The kids can help with this part, depending on their age.
Adding challenges as the kids continuing playing in the living room can make it more exciting. If the kids seem to master certain obstacles, you can add different aspects to the different sections.
Incorporating your imagination can also make it more exciting for the kids and adding a points system can also be intriguing.