Obstacle Course

Wednesday:	Obstacle Course
Elementary Bible Lesson:	Josiah and the Book: We should study God's word and apply it to our lives.
Memory Verse:	1st Thessalonians 2:13
Preschool Bible Lesson:	Josiah and the Bible

Age Groups:

• elementary
• preschool
• teens

Equipment Needed:

This depends on exactly what obstacles you intend to implement, but in general most of it will be stuff you already have or can borrow. Plan ahead.

Basic Instructions:

Have the obstacles positioned all over the back yard. (Creativity counts on this one – the more different obstacles you can arrange, the better.)

Explain the course order to the children. Have one person demonstrate for everyone to watch the proper running of the course. Then divide the children into several even teams (4-5 teams, however many you can do while dividing the children more-or-less evenly). Send the first person from each team when you blow the whistle; when they return, they tag the next person on their team, who then runs, and so on, until everyone has run the obstacle course. If one team is a person short, someone runs twice. Whichever team finishes first wins. Play again as time allows.

Depending on the obstacles you use, you may need extra helpers to reset some of the obstacles to their original state after each person passes through.

Variations:

For preschool, skip the teams and have all the children follow you and run the course together. If necessary, simplify the harder parts of the course, or have a helper help the children past hard parts. Once you have run it all together, run it again, or let them run the course on their own like a playground.

For teens or small groups, dispense with the teams and run each person individually, and time them. Fastest time wins. As time permits, they may try again to improve their time, or you can rearrange the course a bit to make it more interesting. Play until time expires, then stop.

Suggested Obstacles

• crawl under a table
• belly-crawl under something even shorter, such as a rope
• jump over (or limbo under) a rope strung between two stakes (or a broom set across two chairs)
• crawl through suspended hula hoops
• step through tires or horizontal hoops or rings
• run around the tree three times
• crawl through a tunnel made from sheets on a framework of hoops
• crawl under, over, or through a set of chairs
• jump over or slog through a wading pool (barefoot, by preference)
• crawl through a wading pool full of sand (possibly right after the water one)
• a jump-rope that they have to stop and use a certain number of times
• kick a ball between stakes/cones/whatever, into a goal
• weave back and forth around stakes/cones/whatever
• fill a cup with water from one bucket and carry it to another bucket
• fill a cup with water using a sponge and a bucket of water (without picking up the cup)
• get a marble out of the bottom of a bucket of ice water
• find an object buried in a bucket of sand
• throw a ball through a hoop or a bean bag into a goal or cetera
• drop a clothespin or other object into a jar or bucket
• log roll between two ropes or lines
• hop on one foot, or with both feet in a sack
• say the memory verse while standing on one leg on a certain object. (Have copies of the verse available for those who haven't learned it yet.)
• crawl under a large sheet, rug, or wet blanket
• somersault, crabwalk, etc.
• spin around ten times
• carry a basket of something on one's head
• slip-and-slide
• stack blocks
• pop a balloon with your bare hands