Note: The safe building, engineering and use of the following project is entirely your responsibility. The description below is how I built it and may not be appropriate for your home layout or intended audience. Seriously, if you don’t know what you’re doing, find something else. You need a fairly large area to pull this off safely, as there must be enough clearance to the walls and enough room to put a wide set of mats underneath. The guidelines for use and parental supervision are identical to what they would be on a backyard or outdoor playground. It’s not inherently safer just because it’s indoors. ‘Nuff said.
This project was inspired by a local friend who has a similar, yet much more elaborate system in his house. In his home, he had a natural beam to hang things off, and the kids had more variety by rehanging the items. Mine needed a beam ‘installed’ and the item placement is relatively fixed, although it’s possible to move or substitute equipment on the existing eye bolts.
With a large basement and dicey weather during much of the year, I built this in a few hours over the course of a day .
The Ceiling Mounted Kids Gym
It’s a 10′ beam bolted into the rafters (which run perpendicular) to this beam.
Note that the 4″ direction is vertical to prevent flexing. Hanging from this beam is standard backyard gym equipment, using the same hanging hardware as you’d use on outside equipment.
You do need to think about what subset of outdoor equipment is appropriate. For instance, I don’t think that a swing would work well on this as it would pull the beam back and forth. The trapeze bar and climbing rope are good substitutes.
I was able to fit this one out using new parts and wood for about $125.
I did some test placement/visualization of the hanging equipment to leave enough room to place the thick bolts into the rafters (which, running perpendicularly this beam, had little tolerance for being off). By running it in this direction, I can attach the beam to the center of multiple rafters. I did about four rafters. By making my beam run perpendicular to the rafters it fit the basement more aesthetically, and in my opinion it minimized the possibility of the ceiling flexing and was stronger and safer than only hanging off one rafter as it would if it were parallel (turned 90 degrees).
After I figured out where everything should go on the beam and marking it in pencil, I drilled the holes for the hanging equipment, then mounted the hardware eye bolts for the equipment onto the beam, but without the hanging equipment at first. The backs of this hardware will not be exposed once the beam is mounted so this hardware must go in first. I added the ladder by sharing two bolts from the trapeze and climbing rope - I don’t really recommend this aesthetically, but it’s worked well enough.
Since it’s difficult to access this once the beam is mounted, get it right the first time and use the right washers to ensure that active play doesn’t loosen the hardware. An improvement would be find a way to access the top by offsetting the beam from the ceiling so you could move around the hardware a little easier, as it was in my friend’s home.
Next I drilled the four holes for the bolts for the beam/rafter connections straight through using progressively wider drill bits. The bolts were large to allow for multiple children to play on it once.
I went right through the beam into the drywall, then the rafters.
Ensure that you are entering the rafter solidly aligned into the center and not off the edge. If you miss the rafter or judge catch an edge, the bolts will not grab onto the rafter. This is a bit tricky to do through the drywall, so measure twice, visually examine the hole, and don’t assume everything is offset perfectly to ‘common standards’.
It’s a nice extra touch to countersink the bolts (I forgot).
I lifted the whole beam in position, then tightened the bolts down with a ratchet until it felt solid. Then I hung the hardware and had several adults try it actively to ensure it was super-safe. I’m not a mechanical engineer so I overdid everything most likely.
The last step is to check the lengths and make sure the items do not drag on the floor, and ensure the loose ends (which might be on the ladder or rope climb) are cut off or safely tied back. If left loose, they can create a hazard.
The climbing rope was knotted loosely to make it a bit easier to climb.
Not pictured are mandatory thick mats which go under the play area and surround it. I needed two large mats to cover the entire area. Since it’s indoors and will never get wet, I found that using several heavy futon pads spread underneath the equipment worked well enough, or you might want a more professional mat. A layer of carpet even with a pad does not meet current playground standards.
The little pieces of duct tape hold some rare earth magnets. The kids had fun hanging ropey items with metal tips off and practicing ‘karate’ kicks and punches to knock them off.
Behind and to the right, you can see a lateral ‘traverse’ climbing wall I built. It’s screwed right into the drywall into the wood with two screws each. The blocks are cedar blocks with a routed handhold I made on each one. The top edge is routed with the routed edge placed closest to the wall creating a fingerhold for small fingers.
Two long screws right into the studs felt about right for a child even with the weight on one handhold based on the height, but you’ll want do your own assessment for the safety of your child.
They are deliberately offset and tilted a little to make it more of a challenge (I’m not much of a carpenter, but I can tell if something is straight 
) It was meant to be temporary until I could build a real climbing wall for my son there, but it’s held up enough (but not as fun as real handholds). As my son was very light at the time, this was adequate.
This home kids gym is a nice framework to extend upon, and it certainly gets a lot of use and comments from guests and their kids. I intend to add a double-punching bag and change it up as time goes by.
There’s nothing to ‘put away’ or ‘clean-up’, it doesn’t get dirty. It’s hard to misuse or mistreat the items as they are mounted. Nothing to get cluttered. The kids have a great workout / exercise on it, they burn off a lot of energies and calories bouncing around the gym.
Periodically (every few months), you should visually re-inspect the bolts and try to pull the beam laterally to ensure it’s still solid. You might adjust the height of the equipment to account for the height of the children using it.
I’m sure there’s more appropriate carpentry terms for all the words I’ve misused here - if you let me know the right ones, I’ll update this, thanks! Contact me at creatrope.com. If you build one, send me a picture and a comment, and I’ll post it.
If you liked this project, you’d probably also like the Indoor Kids Playhouse
Note: The safe building, engineering and use of the proceeding project is entirely your responsibility. The description above is how I built it and may not be appropriate for your layout or intended audience.