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Obstacle Building Games

Obstacle courses can be an effective way for kids to have fun, work on their team-building skills and burn some energy all at the same time. Allowing kids to build their own obstacle courses puts another aspect of creativity into the game. Obstacle courses can be created using a variety of objects found in the home or at school, or they can be done without tools and consist only of actions such as hopping, jumping or crab walking.

ZOOM Obstacle Course
- PBS Kids presents this idea for building an obstacle course game. The game can be played with up to four players and should be built outdoors or where there is a wide, open area. Players will need eggs, stools or chairs, rope and balloons to create this obstacle course. Kids can create an obstacle course using the items in any arrangement, but PBS Kids offers one suggestion: Roll an egg with your nose, put the egg in a bucket, then run backwards until you get to pair of chairs with a rope tied between them. Limbo under the rope, put a balloon between your legs and run back to the starting line. Players can split up into teams of two and then race to see who finishes first, tagging the next member of their team when they finish the course.
Energy Tag
- This obstacle course game doubles as a teaching tool. Students can learn about the respiratory system of the body while burning energy. Instructors will need a flag belt for each student, as well as tools to create the obstacle course such as hula hoops, noodles, cones, hurdles and some poster board for signs. Students or instructors can set up the game, using the tools to represent parts of the body. Four to six students will not have a flag on their belt; these will be the muscles of the body. The rest of the students will have flags and will be oxygenated blood. They must move through the body and try to avoid the muscles. If one of the muscle players catches the oxygenated blood player, the oxygenated blood becomes de-oxygenated and must travel back through the heart and lungs (the obstacle course) and re-flag themselves.
Obstacle Medley
- The New York Road Runners created this obstacle course game to train youth runners, but it can be enjoyed as a good physical workout for any age. Instructions detail how to create a course using cones and jump ropes and give an example course including crab walks, zigzags and sprinting. Players split up into two teams and relay through the entire course until one team completes it first. A video is also available for players to watch a sample course.
Roblox: Build an Obstacle Course
- After creating a free online Roblox account, players can use the Lego-like building blocks to create a virtual obstacle course of their own. Players can use different types of blocks such as lava, vanishing, exploding, conveyor and reflective blocks to create their obstacle course. Then they can take their block character through the course or allow other players to try it. Players may even wish to attempt to recreate their obstacle course using real life objects and test it outside.

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