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One of the local private schools was having a sports day / track day / Olympics for their students in the playground the other day. So while chasing my son and his friends around the playground, I snagged a picture for you of something I thought was really cool.
Ta da! They are homemade hurdles for kids of all sizes using PVC pipe.
What you will need to make a homemade hurdle for your kids
For this project you will only need to visit the plumbing section of the local hardware store. Yipee!
For the version shown above, you’ll need 2 elbow joint pieces, 2 t-shaped joint pieces and lots of pipe that will fit into those joints. You will want to use plumbers glue to hold your joints together and you will need a hacksaw to trim your pieces to length. As well, a marker to mark where you need to cut will come in handy along with a tape measure if you hope to make your hurdles even. 😉
I’m not going to get into the details and specifics here, but you can either experiment on your own to figure out what will work well for your kids or if you are a more details first type, you can check out this eHow article.
P.S. When making your hurdles, try to leave the back leg shorter than the front leg like in “real” track hurdles so if your kids don’t make it over, the hurdle topples instead of tripping them onto their face. Ouch.
Why Hurdles Are Great
Kids love to run and challenge themselves. They especially love to jump. Homemade hurdles made from PVC can be adjusted higher or lower if you simply wedge the upright pipe pieces into their joints instead of gluing them. By wedging them, as your kids grow you can replace the upright bars with longer ones making your hurdles higher. (You’ll notice in the photo that the hurdles on the right are “big kid” hurdles where the ones on the left have shorter upright pipes and are “little kid” hurdles.
Got My Homemade PVC Hurdles, Now What?
Hold a sports day right in your own backyard.
Hmm… I’m also thinking an Olympic themed birthday party!!
Or maybe… set it up and leave it so the kids can make their own obstacle courses, run it, and change it up all summer!
If you are looking for more outdoor games to go with your hurdles event, be sure to check out my Pinterest boards. The Outdoor Play board has lots of fun, easy, homemade games for the kiddos such as homemade outdoor bowling, homemade balance beam, and a do-it-yourself throwing challenge game.
Enjoy!
How about you? Have you held an active birthday party or created a fun afternoon of sports challenges for your kids?
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