Over and Under Obstacle Course

Active coping skills are an important part of Please Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff Coping Tool Box. The Over and Under Obstacle Course is a fun way to help kids deal with difficult emotions and can be a powerful visual reminder that life events can be like an obstacle course. There will be ups and downs, but the most important thing is to keep going.

Setting Up Your Obstacle Course

• Use you imagination. Your obstacle course can be inside or outside.
• If you’re building inside, use furniture, cushions, blankets, doors and anything else you can think of to use.
• These obstacle course also work in an education setting. Use desks, books, doors and other items in the room.
• If you’re working outside, use playground equipment, toys, sporting equipment, leaves, creeks, etc. to build your course.
• Try to make your course doable but make sure it requires some effort on the child’s part.

Using Your Obstacle Course to Reinforce Emotional Resilience

• Run the obstacle course with the child.
• Time the child and see if they can improve on their time.
• When you are finished with the course, discuss with the child how, like the course, life is not always easy. Ask them how they dealt with the obstacles on the course. Talk about other obstacles in their life and how they can deal with those obstacles.

For more awesome resources for learning about and dealing with emotions, please visit our Hope 4 Hurting Kids Emotions Help Center.