Physical activity is a key factor in building and maintaining healthy bones, joints and muscles.

Here’s a fun activity to help you stay active and healthy.

Over-and-Under Fun: Build an obstacle course with your parents.
Set up a small obstacle course in your backyard or nearby park and invite your friends to try it out.
Use your imagination with the obstacles and be sure to help set up the course.
If a yard or park isn’t readily available, set up a smaller course in your living
room or throughout your house or apartment using couch cushions, pillows, shoe boxes, etc.

Remember to keep the course safe.
Make sure the obstacles and surrounding objects aren’t dangerous or sharp,

and avoid heights above a couple of feet to prevent injury from a fall.
Keep a stopwatch on hand and have your parents help keep track of your times.

Don’t get overly competitive about the time.
The idea is to have fun, get some exercise and feel good.

DON’T FORGET TO ASK YOUR PARENTS FOR HELP WHEN YOU NEED IT.

Cardboard Boxes
Get some old produce boxes from your local grocery store.
They’ll usually give them for free.
These versatile, sturdy boxes can be used for all sorts of things in your obstacle course.
Decorate them with your parents.

Stagger them on the lawn so you can run through them in a zigzag pattern.

Open up the bottoms and tape several boxes together to make a tunnel to crawl through.
If you have enough boxes, make the tunnel twist and turn a little.

At one point in the course, set up a box as a makeshift basket and toss a ball into it.

Rope
It’s versatile, reusable and makes a great addition to your course.
Tie several pieces of it into 10”-12'' circles and set them in a row on your lawn.
Hop on one foot to make it through them.
Place a couple of the circles side by side for a makeshift hopscotch section.

Place two 8’-10' lengths of rope parallel on your lawn about four inches apart and walk its length like a balance beam.

Broomstick
Set up a limbo stick. Use boxes of varying sizes, the backs of chairs as supports, or just have your parents hold it for you.

Water Bottles
Fill some plastic water bottles or plastic half-gallon milk jugs with water to make small weights. Set up an obstacle in which you must get all the bottles from one location to another while running through a zigzag course. (Combine with the cardboard box zigzag course.)

With a little imagination and creativity, you and your parents can put together a fun course for little or no cost.
But although the course is free, the healthy rewards are invaluable.

You’ll stay active, get stronger and have fun doing it.