Obstacle Courses

So your child likes running, climbing and jumping and you live in a studio apartment with your grandmother’s fine china collection?

Never fear, the diy obstacle course is here. You can make these as elaborate or as simple as you like. My first go involved a step ladder, bean bag, hoola hoops and cushions. It took forever and while Mr 3 loved it the effort seemed extreme.

Then I found electrical tape. It is the best for making obstacle courses, car tracks, hopscotch. Just stick it down on the ground and when the game is over make another game of pulling it off the floor. You can get multicolour packs if you want to get really fancy with red stop lines, green speed sections and yellow go slows. Make up little rules- at this line do 5 star jumps, on this line walk backwards etc and watch your child burn off all their excess energy. As they get more confident they will start making the tracks and the rules themselves.

No tape? No worries. Just make rules for specific walls and furniture and make up an invisible obstacle course. You will need to remind them of the rules at first, but they will play for ages. I once used this trick to entertain my son during a four hour wait at hospital. He crabwalked, jumped and ran backwards around the tiny waiting room for hours despite being hungry, thirsty, tired and scared (nil by mouth).