The Benefits of Obstacle Courses for Children

The Benefits of Obstacle Courses for Children

The Benefits of Obstacle Courses for Children

No matter how young or old you are, physical activity is very important to keep a healthy mind and body.

In today’s world, it’s easier to adopt a sedentary life. However, there are many fun things you can do as a family to keep moving and give yourself and your children the benefit of exercise.

Obstacle courses are great for that purpose!

They’re not only fun to set up because you’re inspired to find ways to make things more interesting and challenging. But they’re also fun to do and it creates a great motivation for exercise.

What’s more, obstacle courses offer a lot more benefits for children than just exercise. So let’s take a look at the most important benefits this amazing activity provides!

  1. Obstacle Courses Improve Memory and Sequencing Skills

As children grow and go through school, they’re required to retain more and more information. Not only that, but they also need to be able to understand how to go through a sequence of events in the right order. Obstacle courses can promote memory and sequencing, which are very important for their development, not only in school but in life.

  1. They Help Children Understand Sensory Input

Obstacle courses provide many different opportunities to experience and understand sensory input of all kinds. For example, children will engage in deep pressure sensory input when they have to do some heavy work, such as climbing a wall/ tree/ couch, (pretty much anything that can be climbed).

They also experience linear sensory input when they go up and down, sagittal sensory input when they go side to side, and rotary sensory input when they’re spinning around.

As they do these things, they will adjust to them so their adaptation skills, coordination skills, and gross motor skills will increase and are activated.

  1. They Promote Balance and Strength

An obstacle course will put your children’s balance and strength to the test in different ways. They will get a full-body workout during an obstacle course if you set it up correctly, which means they will get stronger and their sense of balance will improve.

This is particularly great for children who are engaged in sports, gymnastics, martial arts, dancing, etc., as extracurricular activities or hobbies.

  1. They Improve Motor Planning

In a nutshell, motor planning refers to the skill that allows us to put our sequencing and memorization skills to use. Knowing what you must do in a given situation can be easy, but actually doing it may be a challenge. Obstacle courses provide different opportunities for children to learn to do many different things and perform a wide range of actions that may come in handy in other situations.

  1. Obstacle Courses Improve Bilateral Coordination

Last but not least, bilateral coordination is something children can struggle with. Bilateral coordination refers to moving individual parts of the body at the same time to complete a task or perform an action. Obstacle courses have many different obstacles to overcome, which is why they help children improve their bilateral coordination, and this will translate to every aspect of their lives.

Swings and Hammocks are a great addition to any obstacle course have a look at the various options that we have available at iKids.

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