A DIY Backyard Obstacle Course Is the Perfect Summer Afternoon Activity

Using a ball and cones (if you don’t have cones, bottles would work), arrange a soccer drill to start your obstacle course off. Have your kids dribble around the cones without knocking any over. If one falls, have them start again!

Next on the obstacle course is the hurdle! Have your kids take turns jumping over something. I used an outdoor side table, but as with everything in this obstacle course, anything works (as long as it’s not too tall; this side table is just under two feet). Of course, adjust to different ages by choosing a taller or shorter object.

Bring out the pool floats! For a hopping obstacle, I used doughnut-shaped floats and had the kids jump from the inside of one float to the inside of another. Pretend everything else is lava and never touch the float or the outside floor. They jumped back and forth a couple times before moving on.

Since I had a tennis ball and racket on hand, the next step was to bounce the ball on the floor using the racket 15 times. If you miss one, you have to start over! You can re-create this with anything – a basketball, a soccer ball, a golf ball – whatever you have on hand!

Next, using anything you have on hand with wheels (a scooter is probably the easiest, but a bicycle or tricycle would work too), have the kids speed around the backyard five times, as fast as they can. If you have any fragile objects, it’s probably best to bring those inside today!

The last step of the obstacle course is great if you have a pool. If not, you can skip this step or invent another challenge with an inflatable pool, a sprinkler, or any other water element. Using goggles and an optional kickboard, I had the kids swim across the pool until the end and come back – and they’re done!

Want to repeat it? Time your kids and see how quickly they can finish, then challenge them to beat their time on the next round.