Home » Set up an Obstacle Course for a Child Physical Activity

Set up an Obstacle Course for a Child Physical Activity

Posted: Thursday, August 10, 2006

by Nancy Johnson
Creative Child Activity Notebook

Setting up an obstacle course is a wonderful child physical activity. Children get lots of exercise while having fun. An obstacle course can be set up with items you may already have. Usually an obstacle course is set up outdoors, but can be a wonderful indoor activity when the weather is bad.

To set up an obstacle course, think of terms such as jump, hop, crawl under, climb over, walk along, go right or go left. A child physical activity includes practicing gross motor skills, balance and coordination. Plan out the course by listing the skills you want the children to practice. Eight to ten stations is a good number for school age children.

Use a ladder flat on the ground to run through
Crawl under a table or broom hung between 2 chairs
Hop through hula hoops set on the ground
Step over an obstacle such as yardstick between 2 chairs at knee height
Walk across balance beam (4"x4" board)
Weave in and out of poles made with PVC pipe inserted in sand buckets
Squeeze through 2 objects placed close so child walks sideways
Throw ball into wastebasket
Carry an object on a spoon (water balloon outdoors, small ball indoors)
Jump or skip 5 times with jump rope
Bounce or dribble ball to next station (at least 5 times)

You can adjust this child physical activity to fit the ages, abilities and number of children in your group. Make the obstacle course simple at first and gradually increase the difficulty of each station. If you want, time the kids to see how fast they can complete the course. Record their individual times and see if the can practice to improve their own times. Make certificates of accomplishment and completion of this child physical activity the obstacle course.

As a mother, grandmother, and child development professional, Nancy Johnson, shares over 20 years experience working with children and planning activities on her website, Creative-Child-Activity-Notebook.com. Check it out for more school age child activity ideas including learning, holiday, party, cultural, and nature child activity ideas.

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Top-level comments on this article: (6 total)

» left by whitney from jamaica w.i 4 years 111 days ago.

gave me good answers for a course work i was doing

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» left by Rachel
from Bowen 3 years 345 days ago.

yes very helpful gave me some ideas for something to do at a christian youth group i Help organise. I think it work out a bit better thanks to your ideas. Thank You From Rachel :)

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» left by Charlotte
from Darlington 3 years 301 days ago.

thank you i have used this for my couse work, (Child care and education) If you are doing this couse i recoment this web site. Thank You from Charlotte

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» left by Anonymous 3 years 232 days ago.

this was a very stupid article

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» left by Anonymous
2 years 265 days ago.

this was really helpful thank you for posting this!

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» left by jane doe from arizona 2 years 92 days ago.

I feel that i have become dumber for having read this article, and wish i could get the time i spent reading it back!!!

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