With the cold weather coming, and the Covid pandemic still looming over us, more and more parents will be looking for spaces for the kids to play! The parks won’t be as fun as it gets rainy, and indoor activities in public places are often a no-go zone. If you are one of those parents looking for some active fun to provide for your kids, think about making a jungle gym in your garage!
I know that at first mention that could sound like a crazy, and maybe an expensive idea. But with a few simple DIY options you can make part of your garage a super fun spot for your kiddos to get their wiggles out! I did a pretty basic, cheap version; my husband tested positive for Covid-19 so we needed to be quarantined at home for two weeks. The thought of keeping my two kids under 5 at home without a viable physical outlet was harrowing, to say the least. So I put my brain to work and rigged up some good old cheap fun!
It gave me some great ideas to make a fancier, better put together version after we are done with quarantine!
The first order of business is to make sure that your garage is pretty tidy and safe. Next week we will have a post about childproofing your garage so that you can make sure that your garage is totally safe for whatever they wanna do! First, just make sure that any harmful chemicals are put up where the small kids can’t reach them, and secure any sharp and dangerous tools. I will usually hang out in the garage or the backyard right next to the door to monitor the kiddos inside my garage. We don’t have a garden shed so all my dangerous tools and chemicals are kept in the garage. I do my best, but there isn’t a way to completely childproof my garage space.
After childproofing the garage as best I can, I will usually plan out what I want to set up. Go through your house and gather some stuff that you probably have. We already had a mini trampoline, gym mats, wobble board, and some balls. I kind of dump everything in the middle of the floor. That way I look at all the stuff I have and let my imagination tell me where to put it. From there, I figure out what I want to ad from the stuff I don’t have already. I want something the kids can climb up, and something they can swing on too.
A quick Pinterest search can get me some great ideas! There are tons of prebuild climbing structures you can get, but I decided to build my own. Same with the swing; we are planning on getting my daughter a yoga swing for Christmas, so I decided not to get a fancy premade swing for this project, but instead I opted for a rustic swing made of scrap wood some rope. Hang the swing low enough so that your smallest kids can get on there and go to town!
Making your garage into a space that your kids can work off some energy doesn’t have to be a huge project. You can make it as big or small a thing as you want!