Backyard Obstacle Course

There were dogs, frogs, circus acts and superheroes in the backyard this afternoon.  Before the rumpus, I put easy-to-find materials down in the backyard to create a temporary obstacle course.  It’s something I’ve been meaning to do with the kids for a while now (wish I had done it earlier!).  It took me all of 5 minutes to set up and the only things I needed to buy was the wood planks and the hula hoops. Best $20 I spent this week.

Note: I put this together keeping in mind the ages and capabilities of my own children plus provided guidelines to ensure their safety.

Below are some material ideas that can be used for a backyard obstacle course:

• Witches hats
• Cone markers
• Plank of wood on the ground (untreated and different size and thicknesses)
• Large stepping stones
• Old tyres
• Hula hoops laid on the ground
• Door mats or foam squares
• Large saucepans
• Browse a second hand shop for useful items

Our Backyard Obstacle Course

At the last tyre change, I asked the mechanic if I could keep the tyres so I already had them in the shed (they just needed a bit of a hose down), the foam mats we use for camping, and I bought a few different pieces of wood from Bunnings.

Seriously, it’s amazing how much fun an ordinary plank of wood on the grass is! I think if I only put that down, the kids still would have a ball.  That’s the beauty of this: it acts like a temporary outdoor activity that I can pull out in part (for example just the foam mat or the hula hoops) or in full.  The kids played in the backyard for about an hour and a half before dinner. Was. Awesome.

Backyard fun

Circus act

Frogs jumping on lily-pads

Wide (and long) piece of wood on the grass

Smaller pieces of wood.

Foam mats and cone markers

Next up: we are going to decorate the wood planks.

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