Brain Builders: Create an Indoor Obstacle Course

Bored or stuck inside on a rainy day? You can create an indoor obstacle course in your home using items you already have! With help from my friend, Claire, (who insisted that Super Woman was the right person for the job) we used:  

• pillows as mud puddles to jump over 
• painters tape on the floor to zig zag and jump over
• Colored balls to make a matching game
• Leftover ribbon to make the “lasers”
• A towel and a pool noodle as a lake and bridge 

You can get creative with what you have at home and make it as challenging as you want!

Why is this activity a brain builder? With young children, the physical development and mental development are very much aligned. When kids are challenged to move in different ways, like balancing on a pool noodle or hopping over pillows, their brains create more synaptic connections that are useful not only for making them more physical coordinated but also improving their capacity for all kinds of learning. Playing pretend, like Claire does with Wonder Woman, is also great for learning empathy and creativity. Plus every parent knows that a kid who gets plenty of exercise is a kid who is much easier to deal with by the end of the day.