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You are here: Home / GUIDES / 14 Genius DIY Climbing Spaces for Kids Indoor Play

14 Genius DIY Climbing Spaces for Kids Indoor Play

Updated November 30, 2020 By Chrissy (This post contains affiliate links. This means if you purchase an item I have linked to, I may receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you.)

You will love these ideas for creating amazing DIY climbing spaces for kids indoor play areas. Some of these ideas are truly genius and totally doable. Get started on making your own climbing walls, cargo nets, and playroom jungle gyms.

DIY Indoor climbing walls for kids

Table of Contents

  • Why create a climbing space for kids in your home?
  • DIY Climbing Spaces for the Home
    • 1. DIY Climbing wall over bed
    • 2. Floor to ceiling Climbing Space
    • 3. Loft Bed with Climbing Wall and Fireman pole
    • 4. Woodsy Bedroom Climbing Space
    • 5. DIY Climbing Wall and Monkey Bar Ceiling
    • 6. Add a Ceiling-Mounted Climbing Net
    • 7. Natural Indoor Climbing Trees
    • 8. “Buskas” Indoor Climbing Tree
    • 9. Wall Mounted Pallet Ladder
    • 10. Wood block rock climbing wall
    • 11. Wooden DIY Climbing Structure
    • 12. Hallway monkey bars
    • 13. Homemade Portable Climbing Wall
    • 14. DIY Toddler Climbing Frame
    •  
    • DIY Climbing Spaces for Kids Indoor Play Essentials:
  • More Kids Play Areas
    • Related Posts

Why create a climbing space for kids in your home?

Kids have an innate need to move their bodies in big ways. These gross motor activities are needed to help strengthen muscles, provide an outlet for energy, and help kids gain confidence in their abilities.

Climbing is a total body workout. So, when kids use these climbing structures, they’re able to exercise everything from their fingers (need good grip strength to hold on!) down to their toes. And it’s not just physical strength that climbing helps develop. Climbing requires flexibility, coordination, balance, and mental challenges like strategy and planning.

It’s no wonder why kids get a boost of confidence when reaching new heights.

These are all things we want to develop in our kids. Plus, having fun is so good for kids. We definitely want that, right?

An indoor climbing space in your home is a great way to provide all of the benefits of climbing in a safe environment. Not to mention how great it would be to have a space like this to have for a fun rainy day kids activity. It’s been so cold here lately that my kids have no interest in playing outside. Instead, they’re in here climbing the walls with their pent up energy. So, why not let them, literally, climb the walls!

(Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. If you click on an affiliate link and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission on your purchase. You pay the same price either way, and the money I earn helps support this site so that I can keep it going. Thanks!)

DIY Climbing Spaces for the Home

Making an indoor climbing space at home can be as easy as attaching climbing holds to a wall by their bed. Or, you can have an entire indoor climbing playset. Think about your kids’ ages and activity levels and go from their. Bigger kids will need a bigger space, but you may also be able to use space on ceilings and such.

Take a look at the ideas below and get your juices flowing on the best way to add an indoor climbing space to your home:

(quick note: These are genius ideas, but always follow safety instructions and guidelines when installing your own climbing structures at home.)

1. DIY Climbing wall over bed

Use the space above your kids bed to add colorful climbing holds. This has even greater impact if you’ve got nice, tall ceilings in the bedrooms, or a low bed. The mattress below the climbing wall provides a soft landing for jumps and falls. From TRIPLEX.

Make a climbing wall over kids bed for an easy indoor climbing area. The bed keeps landings soft! via Triplex

2. Floor to ceiling Climbing Space

This family used gas pipe fittings to create a challenging climbing course with ladder, monkey bars, and climbing rope. From Fine Home Building.

This is a great play space with a DIY climbing area for kids. Perfect for keeping the kids active when they're stuck indoors. via Fine Home Building

3. Loft Bed with Climbing Wall and Fireman pole

Simply Designing shares a detailed look at how they pulled together this amazing kids bedroom. The main features are this climbing wall going up to the loft bed. Then, getting back down is even more fun with a metal fireman’s pole.

This bedroom climbing space is so clever and looks amazing. See how to make this loft bed with climbing wall and fireman's pole via Simply Designing.

4. Woodsy Bedroom Climbing Space

Here’s another creative climbing space in a kids bedroom. More Like Home shares how they created this woodland-inspired climbing space with a climbing wall and monkey bars.

I love the woodsy feel of this bedroom climbing space for kids. Includes instructions on how to make climbing wall and monkey bars via More Like Home

5. DIY Climbing Wall and Monkey Bar Ceiling

Bigger kids will love this bedroom that is totally decked out for a climber. The climbing holds go from wall to ceiling, but the ceiling-mounted monkey bars really steal the show here (and provide a convenient place to hang an indoor hammock!). I can’t tell what is used here for the monkey bars. They look a bit like these playground safety handles, but you’d need to make sure that you’re using something made to support a swinging body. From Imgur

Totally cool big kids bedroom with climbing wall and monkey bar ceiling. Check out more genius indoor climbing ideas here.

6. Add a Ceiling-Mounted Climbing Net

If climbing walls aren’t your thing, check out this climbing feature made from heavy duty cargo rope. Image from NY Mag.

DIY indoor play area with climbing net for kids. Lots of great ideas for kids indoor climbing spaces.

7. Natural Indoor Climbing Trees

I’ll admit, this one might not be considered a DIY project, but I had to include it. Tree climbing is a quintessential childhood activity, yet I bet there are many kids who live in more urban areas who rarely get the chance to do it. If you have the means, it would be worth figuring out how to tackle a project like this so you can use trees for your DIY climbing spaces for kids indoor play. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much detail about the trees in the post on Trend Hunter where the images are from.

make a natural indoor climbing structure for indoor play, via Trend Hunter

8. “Buskas” Indoor Climbing Tree

If the project above is a bit out of grasp, you might try this idea instead. There aren’t detailed instructions on creating this indoor climbing tree, but all you would need is a skill saw to cut the shapes, some wood, and strong hardware to bolt the pieces to the wall.(source link, and original)

This is the Buskas indoor climbing tree. Check out all of the amazing ways to add a kids climbing space to your home.

Here’s a closer view from the side so you can see how the wood attaches to the wall:

close up view of buskas indoor climbing tree

9. Wall Mounted Pallet Ladder

My pallet-loving friends will love this DIY climbing wall project. Use pallets, or create your own wooden frame, to make this vertical climbing structure. For more fun, place a mattress below so kids can have fun climbing up and jumping off! Find this project here (via Handmade Charlotte).

A wall-mounted pallet can be used to add a climbing element to your kids indoor play space. Check out all of the amazing DIY indoor climbing ideas.

10. Wood block rock climbing wall

Design for Mankind gives step-by-step instructions for making this simple wood blog climbing wall.

Simple wood block climbing wall for kids, via Design for Mankind.

11. Wooden DIY Climbing Structure

This Instagram user Nutritious Movement shared how her family keeps the kids active indoors during the cooler months. I love the setup of these DIY climbing spaces for kids because it allows for kids to climb and swing from below, or get on top to play and climb across. It looks like, despite the many pleas from commenters, there aren’t any plans to build this. However, I think a savvy DIYer or carpenter could work out the details.

Very cool indoor climbing structure for kids to stay active during cold and rainy months.

12. Hallway monkey bars

Make excellent use of a long hallway and install a set of monkey bars!  Building for Play shares how to do this yourself, and you can also see how they hung a swing and climbing rope for more DIY climbing spaces for kids indoor play.

Learn how to add monkey bars to a long hallway from Building for Play

13. Homemade Portable Climbing Wall

A portable climbing wall can be a great way to move the fun indoors or out depending on the time of year. You can adjust the height of your wall to suit the size of your climber. I think climbing to the top and then making it over to the other side would be extremely satisfying for young kids. See Simplified for the details.

Kids will love conquering this portable indoor climbing wall from See Simplified.

14. DIY Toddler Climbing Frame

Even toddlers can benefit greatly from being able to climb. After all, they now have a whole new perspective of the world around them and love being able to pull themselves up even higher!

This Instructables post provides a very thorough description of how to make this beautiful DIY climbing structure for toddlers, known as a Pikler triangle.

Beautiful DIY toddler climbing frame (Pinkler triangle) with full instructions via Instructables. #toddleractivities #toddlerclimbingstructure #DIY

 

DIY Climbing Spaces for Kids Indoor Play Essentials:

Here are some of items to get your started on making your own DIY climbing spaces for kids indoor play.

Kids Large Climbing Holds


CURRENT PRICE AND REVIEWS ON AMAZON

Rope Ladder

VIEW ON AMAZON

Climbing Cargo Net

VIEW ON AMAZON

More Kids Play Areas

If you like making really fun play spaces for your kids, make sure you also check out these posts:

  • 25 DIY Backyard Play Areas
  • 25 DIY Backyard Games

Pin here to save these ideas for later!

Indoor play for kids: Make an indoor climbing space for kids fun and exercise indoors. Perfect for those cold, rainy days when the kids are bursting with energy.
These are really good ideas for making an indoor climbing space for my kids. Some are a little more challenging, but a lot of these ideas are actually totally doable and have full instructions for making. Plus, the kids are always happier when they get some playtime on rainy days! #kidsactivities #DIY #indooractivities #play
yellow climbing wall for kids play area

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(This post contains affiliate links. This means if you purchase an item I have linked to, I may receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you.)

About Chrissy

Hi! I love finding ways to help busy families stay connected through games, crafts, and food. Lists are my thing. You can read more about me here.

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Hi! I love finding ways to help busy families stay connected through games, crafts, and food. Lists are my thing. You can read more about me here.

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