If your child has ever been in OT services or a space with a sensory gym, I’m sure you’ve heard about an emphasis on completing obstacle courses. And of course, they are fun for kids but what are they actually working on? Why would an obstacle course ever matter beyond “just play”?

Well, if this isn’t your first time here, you probably know by now that play is everything when it comes to child development and learning. But even beyond this reason, obstacle courses can be tailored and evolved time and time again to continuously highlight so many skill areas and strengths for kids!

Here are 5 of the reasons we use and love love LOVE obstacle courses

#1: The versatility

When most people think of obstacle courses, they probably can reason that we are focusing our treatment session on building gross motor skills, and while this is inherently true, obstacle courses can address these important foundational skills while also incorporating virtually ANY skill that a child is working on strengthening!

 If you are working on fine motor skills, visual motor skills, integrating retained reflexes, dressing, or even wanting to incorporate more handwriting in your child’s play – obstacle courses are a fun & motivating way to explore these areas in a way less threatening way than most other approaches.

Our favorite way to add in these skills during courses includes having your child bring an item from the “start” of an obstacle course to the “end”, or by collecting items along the way. Whether it’s pieces of a puzzle you’re completing at the end, or different play items you’re finding along the way to write about at the finish line, there are a lot of creative ways to incorporate EVERY skill in a way that your child will be able to be excited about.

 

#2: There’s little to no equipment required

Seeing a child complete an obstacle course in a sensory gym can leave parents and caregivers confused on how to translate this into their home – and that makes sense at first glance! However, they can actually be completed with hardly any prep and work in any household! Because of this, they tend to be my go-to recommendation for something EASY that families can include in their regular playtime with ease.

 While some families do decide to build sensory spaces into their homes, this is typically not reasonable for most families and it really doesn’t need to be. You can get the same goals accomplished using items already in your home or without items at all! Choosing to crawl, jump, spin, walk backward, or any other movement pattern that makes your child stop and think “How can I make my body do this?” can easily become an obstacle course action!

 And don’t get me wrong, OT clinics and sensory gyms have all of the tools because they ARE helpful and fun! We know that having foam stairs and wedges and barrels and trampolines (need I go on?) can help a child’s plan come to life while creating obstacle courses and help to make them successful for any coordination strengths a child has, BUT families should also know some ways that these courses can be made anywhere and at any time to meet your family wherever you are!

Some SUPER SIMPLE in-home ideas & add-ons can include:

• Crawling through cardboard boxes or under tables/chairs as a “tunnel”

• Rolling a blanket or lining up pillows to use as a balance beam

• Balancing on stuffed animals as stepping stones

• Using a bean bag or moving a mattress to the floor for a crash pad

          

#3: It’s all executive functioning!

One of the best play-based ways to work on planning, ideation, recall, and problem-solving (while also building on important motor skills) is by completing obstacle courses. They allow you to start from any level and expand one step at a time if needed, something that makes obstacle courses a tool that can be mastered by ANYONE. Start with completing a jump in the middle of an already established clean-up routine and this is now a form of a simplified obstacle course!

Once you have one step mastered, add in more! Go from crawling under a table, to 3 hops to a balance beam, walking across and landing on a crash pad, or anything else you can think of.

Executive functioning shouldn’t have to be addressed by rote recall quizzes and worksheets, but instead by using activities that are fun for a child and utilize their main occupation through which they learn best (obviously, it’s play!).

 

#4: Praxis, praxis, praxis

Praxis is a somewhat formal way to talk about movement, usually related to how we successfully put motor planning into action. It includes conceptualizing, planning, organizing, and executing actions to make it happen. There’s truly a lot that goes into it, and a LOT that can affect a child’s ability to perform multi-step motor plans effectively. This can include sensory processing, body awareness, strength, tone, and so much more.

When a child is struggling with praxis skills it can often look like this:

• Difficulty figuring out how to move their body how they want

• Appearing clumsy or uncoordinated

• Having a lack of impulse control and/or safety awareness when moving

• Rigidity and difficulty with altering from how they already know to move

Consulting with an OT and seeing if regular treatment sessions would be beneficial should always be a priority if you have concerns with your child’s motor planning & praxis, but obstacle courses are a great way to work on it at home!

 

#5: So much sensory input!

 And of course, it wouldn’t be a blog post written by an OT if I didn’t mention the sensory processing piece (and it’s a BIG piece!)

Obstacle courses naturally touch on many sensory elements:

• tactile when you complete portions barefoot over different textures or when you crawl through a tunnel that brushes against your skin

• visual when you’re inside a tunnel and it minimizes the input you’re taking in, giving your visual system a different, less overstimulating view

• your auditory system when you go from quietly balancing over soft items to getting louder feedback when swimming through a ball pit

• vestibular when you’re balancing or turning or spinning or bending over to reach your next item

• proprioceptive input from stomping, crashing, or (here’s a fun one) tossing a weighted animal you carried the whole way into a bin or basket that’s being used as a target

 

***Important note***

Because you are receiving a mix of sensory inputs throughout an obstacle course, it’s important to try and end the course with grounding or calming input, especially if there were a lot of exciting and energizing vestibular components through the course. Ensuring that you receive feedback through your muscles and joints (proprioceptive input will do this) can be an important step to help your body regulate after all the work that a body has to do during an obstacle course.