“Laser” Obstacle Course with Yarn

Sweet Pea is 5 years old.

From: I got the idea for this fun activity from this picture on pinterest, but I can not find the original source.  (If you know where it came from, let me know so I can give credit.)

Material:

• Yarn.
• Masking tape.
• A hallway or other long and narrow location in your house.
• An item of “value”. (Plastic ring, crown, sculpture, etc)

Procedure:

• Put the “item of value”  at one end of the hallway 
• Working from that location, start taping the yarn to the wall.

• Let the yarn out as you tape it to the wall at different levels.  Move down the hallway (away from the object) to create the obstacle course.  
• Keep in mind  how your child will crawl through it to keep it at the right level of difficulty for them.  Make sure there are some low spots to step over and some high spots to crawl under.
• After the course is set up, invite your child to move through the obstacle course without touching one of the yarn  “lasers”, collect the valuable object and then return back through the course.  
• Encourage them to “practice” several times before trying it for “real”.

Observations: Sweet Pea _loved_ this.  She was so excited and happy moving through it.

She went through the course many times for “practice”, trying to make it through without touch a piece of yarn.   She wanted me to join her in going through the course, which I was not really up for, but she probably played for about 30 minutes by herself before trying it for “real”.  She had so much fun!

Also, I think many children would enjoy setting up their own obstacle course for themselves and I will probably encourage Sweet Pea to do that next time.

This activity was easy to set up, although taking the yard down neatly (so we could use it again next time) took a bit more effort.  This was a really wonderful activity  and I would highly recommend it for preschoolers and older children.  It would be especially good on a rainy day if when your kids need to burn off some excess energy.

Notes from the Trenches:   

Your child will probably be very impatient to get started.  While I was setting it up, Sweet Pea asked many times, “Can I start, now?”    lol.

When you are setting up, make sure that you are headed to a location where you you want to stay for a while before you trap yourself behind the obstacle course.  As soon as I had put up the yarn and settled myself in my office chair, the laundry timer buzzed and I needed to get back down to the other side of the hallway.  lol.

Rating: 4 Stars * (Fun, Easy, Independent, Frugal)

Carnivals:  This post is linked up to It’s Playtime at Hands on As We Grow.