An obstacle course race is one of the classic events at school sports days.
Various obstacles are set up between the start and the finish, and it’s a race where competitors aim for first place while overcoming them.
What obstacles you include greatly affects both the difficulty and the excitement of the event.
In this article, we’ll introduce a variety of obstacle ideas you’ll want to incorporate into your obstacle course race.
We’ve included plenty of obstacles that require not only speed, but also dexterity and luck.
Use these ideas as a reference to create an obstacle course race everyone can enjoy!
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Recommended obstacle ideas for an obstacle race (1–10)
hopping
Hopping on a pogo stick while keeping your balance is a classic toy activity that repeatedly comes into vogue, such as in the 1950s and the 1980s.
Let’s incorporate pogo sticks into a race and put everyone’s sense of balance to the test.
When enjoying them as toys, people often bounce in place, but when you use them in an obstacle course, the element of moving forward requires more delicate control.
The more you feel rushed to move ahead, the easier it is to lose your balance, so it’s important to stay calm and focus on steady bouncing first.
Crawling through a tunnel
Tunnel Crawl is perfect for an exciting sports day obstacle race.
Use cardboard boxes or chairs to create tunnels and have participants crawl through on all fours.
Set up the tunnels along the course and compete to see who can get through the fastest.
It’s a game that both participants and supporters can enjoy together.
Be mindful of the tunnel’s width and darkness when making them.
Ball scissors
The ball clamp is a great way to create that frustrating feeling of wanting to run fast but not being able to.
In this activity, you hold a rubber ball between your feet.
As you move your legs, the ball gradually slips backward and eventually falls.
If you’re doing it as a relay, it could be fun to pass the ball to the next runner using your feet.
However, since you likely won’t be able to attempt other obstacles while holding the ball, you’ll need to get creative with how you set things up.
Also, be careful: if the ball is too hard, it can hurt your feet.
cardboard caterpillar
As the name suggests, the Cardboard Caterpillar is a game where a person gets inside a loop of cardboard and moves forward like a caterpillar.
Being on all fours is surprisingly tough, so it can be quite challenging for high schoolers and adults.
When you hear “move forward on all fours,” you might imagine advancing like a crawl, alternating your hands forward, but the trick to going faster is to keep your hands in place and push forward like when you wipe a floor with a cloth.
That said, if you rush too much you can tumble, and it’s also surprisingly hard to go straight—another fun aspect of this game.
Net crawl-through
When you think of an obstacle course, many people probably picture the net crawl.
The net crawl is an obstacle where you crawl under a net laid on the ground.
It might feel more challenging for larger athletes, like middle and high school students, than for kindergarteners.
If you just place a net on the ground, it’s easy to get through, but pulling the net taut from both sides with staff increases the difficulty.
Since it’s a classic obstacle, we recommend placing it near the beginning of the course.
Kendama
Kendama, a traditional Japanese toy, is something many people have played with.
This idea incorporates the basic “dish catch” movement—often considered an entry-level trick—into an obstacle course.
You can set it up so participants clear the stage by landing the ball on a dish right there on the spot.
If your group includes skilled players, another fun option is to have them run while alternately catching on the side big cup and the small cup at the end of the handle.
The more you rush to clear it, the more your balance will suffer, so stay focused on the kendama in front of you and take on the challenge with concentration.
dizzy bat
Guruguru Bat is a game where you press your forehead to a bat, spin around and around, then try to move forward while dizzy.
It’s often seen on TV variety shows, and many people have probably tried it when playing with friends.
When including it in an obstacle course, it’s good to set a rule like “Spin X times before proceeding.” You can play Guruguru Bat on its own, but combining it with something like a ping-pong ball carry—so you attempt other obstacles while dizzy—can raise the difficulty and make things even more exciting.