I’ve been fantacizing about a set of monkey bars in my house for a while – ever since I met Susanne at Kangaroo Fitness and started reading blog posts by Katy Bowman (biomechanist extraordinaire) on Katy Says. I had discovered Susanne through a flyer at my midwife’s office. She was offering sessions to help correct diastasis recti (a condition where the abdominal wall separates during pregnancy).
I called up Susanne hoping she could help me get my abs back together. Her sessions were fantastically educational, but my mid-section remained lumpy and scarred [Unfortunately, my situation was a little more extreme than diastasis recti, as it was due to the bowel surgeries endured pre-pregnancy]. Once I accepted this physical reality and stopped lusting for a flat midriff, I focused on Susanne’s wealth of other biomechanical and natural movement wisdom – from the ideal squat, to minimalist furniture and footwear, to the importance of upper body strength and hanging… and hence, my monkey bar obsession.
Remembering how easy it was to swing across as a kid, I decided to challenge myself. I started practicing at the park with the kids (sometimes even with a baby strapped in a carrier). My Pinterest board was filling up with ideas and aspirations – I just wanted the family to be able to hang and climb year round. After knocking out a basement wall in our new house, we found a nook that was otherwise bare except for the unsightly electrical panel. Perfect.
And so, with minimal work and very little expense, we transformed the space into THIS:
For our climbing gym, we used the following materials:
- 2” x 4” lumber (4 total) – we had these on hand – FREE!! (otherwise, cost would be $15)
- set of 6 metal bars (ordered on Amazon) … cost $26
- one of the giant pallets from our stash 😉 – FREE!!
- 4’ x 8’ x ¾” smooth plywood board (you can paint or varnish if you like) – cost $40
- rock holds, set of 25 – given to us as a b-day gift for the kids – FREE!! (otherwise cost would be $30 on Amazon)
- gym mat or mattress, for softer landings during early climbing attempts (we found a second hand mattress for free on Kijiji.. it has great springs for bouncing, so doubles as a trampoline;) – FREE!!
BONUS toy storage closet in the back
With this small amount of mostly-free stuff, the kids now have an incredible oasis of indoor play space. Aside from the obvious physical challenges (monkey bars, pallet ladder, rock climbing and trampoline), this fixture doubles as a theatre, triples as a camp-out tent and quadruples as a back-up indoor piñata hanging station!!!! The design is pretty simple and unobtrusive, so we have the option of adding on things like rings or a rope ladder down the road.
We use the space frequently for family obstacle course nights and just general free play, especially during the winter months. It keeps us active and creative even on the coldest, rainiest days 🙂 You can check out some of our shenanigans on Instagram…
Great for puppet shows, fort building and secret naps…
Probably the biggest take-away from my ‘movement’ learning has simply been the value of movement. Most of us sit *so* much during our daily routines that we feel the need to go get sweaty in the gym to make up for all the sitting. Why not simply move more, and move more consciously during your day? That goes for kids too. Unstructured free play time is so important in our household. Good for bodies and imaginations.
For anyone living in the Ottawa area who is interested in natural movement and functional fitness, check out Human 2.0 … they are awesome and can introduce you to muscles you never knew you had!
Eat well. Cook with your kids. Embrace natural movement. Reduce waste. Be well. 
You are a very smart individual!
Love the indoor play space. What type of wall anchors did you use to attach the wood to your walls? Thank you for your incites.
Thanks so much!! We found the studs and used 3 inch construction screws to anchor the pallets. And for the climbing wall side, we built a frame and again used 3 inch construction screws to anchor it to the studs, then screwed the plywood (with rock holds) onto the frame.
Did you attach to the wall and if so how?
We found the studs and used 3 inch construction screws to anchor the pallets. And for the climbing wall side, we built a frame and again used 3 inch construction screws to anchor it to the studs, then screwed the plywood (with rock holds) onto the frame. Good luck 🙂
How high off the floor are your monkey bars and how old/tall are the children using it? How long overall is the space? Thanks want to do this for my boys!
The bars are 6’3″ off the floor and my kids are 4 and 6. We’ve had older and younger kids on them as well. When building, we had actually considered lowering the height so that the kids could also climb on top of the bars, but I’m glad we opted to keep the bars at 6’3″ as it allows adults to hang as well (I’m 5’7″ and love to do a little swinging and hanging occasionally, though the little monkeys are much more graceful!) The 2×4’s are 8′ long. Hope that helps! Good luck — I guarantee the kids will love it!
What length, diameter and material are the metal bars used for the monkey bars?
The bars are 21.5″ long. Here is the Amazon link where we ordered them:
https://www.amazon.ca/Swing-n-Slide-NE-4564-Swing-N-Slide-Monkey/dp/B0028AED1M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484270562&sr=8-1&keywords=metal+monkey+bars
Hope that helps!
Hello, I have been imagining something like this in our mostly unused living room. I see it’s been a couple of years since construction, so I thought I would check in and see how it’s holding up, and if you realized anything that would have made it better/ more sturdy/etc? Thank you in advance!
Hi, Yes, it’s still up and functional! At almost 40 years old, I’m still able to swing on the monkey bars (and attempt a chin up… no luck yet!). We are still very happy with the simple design and construction; the kids still use it regularly. There is a single rock/foot-hold that has become loose, so when climbing it is like a ‘trick’ step, so the kids mostly avoid that spot 😉 With a different design I suppose it would be easier to access the back of the rock wall and adjust/tighten the foot holds; however, it hasn’t really been an issue for us. Good luck! I’d love to hear how it goes!
THIS is why I came here, but got distracted by all your other awesome content. Now that my pantry is done, I need to busy my husband with another building project haha! Why was it so easy to do monkey bars as a kid and so hard now?! I went with full confidence that I could still do it and failed miserably hahah!
Right?! Our upper body strength really takes a hit when we don’t play and cartwheel and climb trees and monkey around like kids do! I’ve been working hard to keep it up, but man is it ever hard! Keep practicing and it does get easier 🙂
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