Perfect for Sports Day! Obstacle Course Ideas Recommended for 2-Year-Olds

A circuit for jumping over cardboard boxes

[You can do this at home too ✨] Circuit movement play 🎶 Let’s use things you have at home and move our bodies together!

You can prepare this with materials you have at home or in your classroom! Here’s an idea for a cardboard jumping circuit.

You’ll need cardboard, scissors, a pen, a long floor cushion, and masking tape or vinyl tape.

Draw large illustrations on the cardboard and cut it in half.

Jump over the cut cardboard pieces and make your way to the goal.

With repeated actions like squatting and jumping, your whole body will warm up nicely.

Balance Ball Circuit

7 Balance Ball Exercises Parents and Kids Can Do Together

Here are some ideas for a circuit using a balance ball.

All you need to prepare is a balance ball.

Many people may think of it as something adults use for rehabilitation or training, but there are plenty of fun ways to play with a balance ball, so I highly recommend it! Of course, it’s great for practicing balance and strengthening the core, but you can also incorporate activities suited to each child’s stage of development—like crawling under a springy, bouncy balance ball or clinging to it tightly and using their whole body.

A circuit made with pool cues

[Ages 0–5] Seven Types of Indoor Educational and Physical Play! [Nursery School/Kindergarten]

Let’s play while getting creative! Here are some circuit (obstacle course) ideas you can make with pool noodles.

All you need are pool noodles and a utility knife or scissors.

Cut the long pool noodles in half and use them for the course! Place the halved pool noodles on the floor and include a tightrope-walk section where kids crawl or walk along them.

You can also roll balls along the top of the noodles, or connect them into circles to make ring shapes—great ideas to try!

A circuit where you role-play as a ninja

[3-year-olds] Ninja Training! ~Circuit Play~

Nin-nin! Swift and stylish moves! Here are some circuit ideas for becoming a ninja.

Prepare a ninja transformation set made from construction paper, a balance beam, a jump rope, mats, and so on.

The video introduces circuit ideas for three-year-olds, but with a few tweaks, many of them can be uniquely adapted for two-year-olds as well! Let’s use the balance beam, jump rope, and mats to fully get into ninja mode.

Wearing a ninja dress-up set to boost the mood is a great idea, too.

Newspaper Spiderweb Circuit

[Ages 0–5] Let’s play boldly! Use the whole room to make a spider web!

Tear it! Stick it! Crawl through and play! Here’s an idea for a newspaper spiderweb circuit.

You’ll need plastic ribbon (suzuran tape), newspaper, and tape.

This is a great idea when you want to include crawling movements in your circuit.

Some children find tunnels challenging because they’re dark and long.

By tearing and sticking newspaper as part of everyday activities, you can naturally encourage crawling movements! The making process also stimulates children’s creativity—what a wonderful idea.

circuit play

"Circuit Play" | Gakuenchō Yūiku-en [Nursery/Kindergarten Event]

A circuit play activity that’s fun not only for sports day but also on rainy days.

As children go around tackling obstacles, their excitement is likely to keep rising.

If you set up a course and include several movement patterns—crawling and climbing over it, jumping, and crawling under—it can make it even more enjoyable.

It’s also nice that, as they keep going around, they start wanting to go faster.

For sports day, it’s a good idea to set a goal—such as how many laps to complete—and encourage them by saying things like, “Only a few more laps to go!”

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Hirakawa Masako (Bōkarisuto: Sakata Mizumako)

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Picture-Matching Race

Children of Light Sports Day: Obstacle Race for 2-Year-Olds

We’d like to introduce an event where you can really feel how much the children have grown—one that will make you think, “They can do all this now!” At the start, the children jump through a row of hula hoops, cross a ladder, and slide down a slide, overcoming obstacles while moving their bodies energetically.

After that, they choose three cards from a large selection, bring them to their caregivers, and work together to assemble them like a puzzle to complete a single picture.

It’s the perfect activity for two-year-olds, whose desire to do things on their own is blossoming and whose range of abilities is rapidly expanding.