This Thanksgiving morning, with the weather rainy and many of our go-to indoor playground options likely closed, my husband and I were in need of an activity to sufficiently tire out and engage our 3-year-old daughter and our 1-year-old son.
We found it when my mother suggested the brilliant DIY activity that is today’s hint: Use items you have around the house to quickly and easily set up a homemade obstacle course for your kids.
In our case, we created a short obstacle course using exercise accessories we had handy in our basement, like an exercise step and bosu ball, along with other items, including a plastic bin and hulu hoops.
The basic gist of our course: I had my daughter make a basket in the plastic bin, cross the “plank” (the step) and the bosu ball, jump in a hulu hoop, pick up a big exercise ball, do a somersault and then repeat.
To my surprise, the course kept my daughter and son engaged for a good while (at least an hour), and my daughter only eventually called it quits, and began putting away the course, because she said she was “tired.” She then was ready for her quiet time, and our son went up for his nap.
In other words, the obstacle course did what we’d expect any good play space, outdoors or indoors, to achieve: it wore our kids out.
For more easy activity inspiration, be sure to check out hints on easy and affordable toddler activities and activity ideas for lazy parents, and share your DIY play obstacle course tips below. Happy Thanksgiving.
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