Nowadays, it’s harder than ever to keep the children active and off some sort of electronic device. A DIY indoor climbing wall can be an excellent addition to a home to keep the kids active.
First, Let's Talk Safety!
Obviously with any DIY climbing wall for kids, safety needs to be considered. Each parent will have to do their own assessment to see if a home is a good fit for their family.
To mitigate the risk of injury, we choose the maximum height of 6 feet for the wall climbing wall. We found a good set of tumbler mats to keep under the climbing wall. The wall has been up for almost 6 months now and we are happy to say there have been zero injuries.
If you feel having a climbing wall for kids in your home is too dangerous, don’t build one.
How to Build a Climbing Wall for Kids?
When we were learning how to build a rock climbing wall we did a ton of research. You should be able to use the following information to get you started.
Step #1 - Prepare and organize the tools and materials you will require to build your indoor climbing wall for home. Here’s what you’ll need:
Climbing Holds
United States
25pc Large Pig Nose Holds - https://amzn.to/34lReE5
32pc Smaller Holds - https://amzn.to/3fnmby0
Canada
25pc Large Pig Nose Shape - https://amzn.to/3gV4Lsd
25pc Jungle Gym - https://amzn.to/3wANvyx
Painters tape
3 Sheets 4'x8' - 18mm finished plywood (¾†is also common)
#10 x 3†wood screws (for fastening climbing wall to studs)
Primer (find one for bare wood)
Paint (we prefer eggshell finish)
M10 - T-Nuts were included with the climbing holds (⅜†is the other common option)
M10 bolts - should supplied with your climbing holds (length will depend on thickness of plywood and hold insert depth) cut them so they do not protrude past the plywood
Self-adhesive screw hole stickers
Dupli-Color Promoter Primer
2" Gymnastic Mats x2
⅛†drill bit for #10 pilot hole
7/16†countersink for wood screws
7/16 Drill Bit (T-nuts)
Personal Protective Equipment (safety glasses, dust mask, gloves, ear plugs, knee pads)
Stud Finder
Circular saw and/or jigsaw
Tape Measure
2 foot & 4 foot. level (can also be used as your straight edge)
Hammer (a heavier hammer is better for installing t-nuts flush)
Palm Sander / 220 grit sandpaper
Power Drill and/or Impact Drill
Step #2 - Locate the wall studs using a stud finder. Then confirm spacing of the studs using your tape measure.
Step #3 - Come up with a design for your plywood cutouts. We used painters tape and it worked great to visualize the layout. You could also use Google Sketchup which is a handy tool for projects like this.
Step #4 - Transfer the climbing wall shapes to the plywood. We made sketches of each shape using paper then transferred those dimensions to the plywood. This can be time consuming depending on your shapes as you want to have as little waste as possible.
Step #5 - Cut out climbing wall shapes. A circular saw and a jigsaw worked great.
Step #6 - Sand the edges and any rough spots.
Step #7 - layout your plywood cutouts on the ground replicating how they will be on the wall. Place the climbing wall holds for kids to your preferred layout and mark the holes to be drilled. I recommend taking a photo when you have all the climbing holds in place to reference when installing them.
Step #8 - Drill out holes for t-nuts
Step #9 - Install the T-nuts flush on the back side of the plywood using a hammer. Test each t-nut by screwing a bolt to ensure there are no issues with the threads.
Step #10 - Prime and Paint the playroom climbing wall shapes. We used 1 coat of primer and 2 coats of paint - Eggshell paint is the best for cleaning and will reduce visible fingerprints .
Step #11 - Using the marks you made earlier when locating the studs, draw faint lines with a pencil the full length of the wall. These will help to make sure you hit a stud when hanging the pieces of the climbing wall.
Step #12 - Secure each piece of the wall using wood screws. Always pre-drill pilot holes so you don’t split the wood or the studs.
Step #13 - Install the holds using bolts. Make sure the length of the screws does not exceed the thickness of the plywood. You may need to cut them down using a grinder with zip disc, or purchase the correct size screws for your application. Use hand tools when attaching the climbing holds to prevent cross threading
Step #14 - Prime and paint the screw hole stickers. I used a primer spray for plastic - 2 coats. Then rolled 3 coats of the same paint we used for the climbing wall shapes. This was an afterthought and actually turned out great.
Step #15 - Safety Mats - The set shown in the video is 2†thick and works great for absorbing the impact when the kids jump off the wall.
We hope this helped you if you were trying to learn how to make a climbing wall. A DIY climbing wall for toddlers is super fun. If you have any questions leave them in the comments below and we will be sure to respond.
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