Building an obstacle course

What you need

• Chairs Cushions
• Balls Baskets
• Scarves
• Anything that could be added to an assault course!

Benefits

• Develops balance and ability to move in different ways
• Develops ball handling skills (throwing, rolling, catching, bouncing etc)
• Develops ability to assess and manage risks

The experience

This activity will work well either indoors or outdoors - whichever you have access to.

Talk about the skills you could practice with your child and let them work with you to find opportunities for jumping (e.g. from a chair to a cushion), balancing (e.g. walking on tiptoe along the length of a scarf), running (e.g. racing from one chair to another), climbing (e.g. up and over a chair or small table), ball skills (e.g. throwing a ball into a basket), spinning (e.g. turning around in a circle when you reach the purple cushion), etc.

As you create the course, talk to your child about anything they think could result in an accident so they have a chance to consider how to safely climb over a chair (e.g. holding tightly with both hands) or throw a ball (e.g. it might hit that flower vase - perhaps we should move that out of the way).

To extend the learning further, when you and your child complete your obstacle course, have a go at timing one another and recording these times - see if you can get faster and faster as your practise again and again. This way, your child will explore maths without even noticing! Have fun and stay safe!