How do I make a backyard obstacle course ?
If your kids suffer from poor core strength or lack balance, you can help them by setting an obstacle course in your backyard. Obstacle courses not only help kids physically, but also gives them the confidence they need as they grow up. Knowing what target areas will be of great help in creating your backyard obstacle course; for instance, if your child lacks balance, you might consider more balance elements in your course.
You can start your course with a moderate obstacle like a crawl section, great example for this are series of tunnels which need your child’s upper body strength as they get down low and use their arms and legs to get through the course. Maximize your space by creating some up and angles as you build your crawl section.
Next is building a climbing element in the course, this is a bit hard to build in a backyard but it plays a vital role in your child’s core strength and balance. You can use a ladder with four to six steps for this course. Make sure to stabilize your ladder. In addition, as for smaller children, you might consider having someone to hold it. You can add some motivation for your kid like placing a bucket of balls on the top of this course and a place to put them on another obstacle. This is an excellent legwork for your kid as they improve on transition to running from climbing.
You can add some hoops on the ground, either color-coded or numbered. This is a good obstacle part where they can place the balls they got from the ladder, this is also good for your child’s memory, rather calling the hoops one at a time, call them all at once and see if your child can get it right in correct order.
Make sure to have your child involved while building your backyard obstacle course. Get them help you to build and ask them for some ideas. Make sure to keep the level of difficulty appropriate for you kid, so that your kids won’t get bored. Double-check your course after trying it for yourself for your child’s safety.
