Parents Making own gymnastic equipment...

[BlairBob]

A low beam is fine. I'd say no to an actual practice bar unless you are a legit gymnastics coach and bar time would be monitored and safe. Maybe build a bar to do pullups and leglifts on and a set of parallettes or a floor bar.

Rope, rings ok with padding. TBH, I used a piece of chain to climb to my treehouse I built in my backyard as a kid. I've heard of people hanging ropes off their 2nd story and that sounds AWESOME!

 

[Gymnastisism]

*Warning* about chin up bars. Got one for DD when she was about 3 or 4 because she's always been such a bar lover. In the process of installing it in a doorway, before we screwed the reinforcements into the wall (it was tightened very tight), she hopped up in a front support, it came away from the wall, and she fell on her face knocking her two front teeth loose and getting a concussion (yoga mat under the bar). We knew when she kept falling asleep and throwing up when she woke up that a trip to the ER was necessary. She turned out to be fine by the time we got her in, but pretty scary!
SO...if you get your DD or DS a chin up bar, please BE SURE IT IS INSTALLED PROPERLY!

When I was a little kid (about 7) I really wanted a low bar to swing off, but my parents wouldn't buy me one. So one day when I went outside to play (I usually just dug holes in the yard, nothing that needed supervision) I decided to make a bar using the stick part of the shovel as the main part of the bar. I balanced it between my trampoline and some outdoor furniture. I got up on my "bar" and attempted a front hip circle. When I was upside down the shovel snapped in half and I landed on my head on the hard ground. I don't really remember what happened after that, but I wasn't allowed outside for a long time and I was even afraid of climbing the monkey bars at school

 

[raenndrops]

We made a floor beam out of a 4x4 (8 feet long) and covered with a carpet remnant. to give it stability, we attached 2x4s to each end. The "mat" is a foam mattress. We made this when older gymmie first got on team. She and her younger sister still use it... they did have to get some ground rules set - especially after their grandfather made them a high beam OUTSIDE in OHIO so they could practice. His beam was NOT safe! If they wanted more height on our beam (only to practice mounts / compulsory dismounts) it involved 2-3 adults and an extra mattress. We had (at the time) the perfect chairs to put the ends of the beam on. The chairs were perfect because we could drill into them. We would screw the beam supports into the chairs and one adult was at each end making sure the beam stayed steady. The 3rd adult (me) was there for dismounts (which I have been spotting at the gym since OG started). Then the mount / dismount practice could begin. When it was over, we disassembled the "high beam" and locked the chairs away.
Point of interest... the girls still use our beam. They used their grandfather's beam for a week and never again. He took it down last summer after it had been unused for over 2 years.
They tend to use the swingset for bar practice... but they get yelled at if they are doing something the coach would hate. Mostly, they just swing from the top bar. Occasionally, they get up to front support (violation that results in having to come in). We need a new swingset that is safer all around and maybe we wouldn't be so "mean" .... NAH - it's a safety issue