5 fun ways to use a play tunnel with your toddler

Even if your toddler is more interested in walking than crawling, finding some opportunities to keep them on their hands and knees has benefits. 

<h3>Why is crawling still important?</h3>

You may have heard some of the reasons crawling is so beneficial for babies, and those reasons remain just as relevant now. When your toddler crawls, they:

• Build upper body and core strength
• Engage in complex movement that requires both sides of their brain to work together 
• Receive deep-pressure sensory input and feedback on their hands, feet, knees, and legs
• Learn about how their body interacts with the environment

<h2>What’s the best tool for keeping your toddler crawling?</h2>

A play tunnel is a fun and effective way to encourage your toddler to keep moving on all fours, especially if they skipped the crawling stage. Many toddlers love squeezing themselves into tight spaces and working their way through, and when you add fun elements—obstacles, motion, balls—you can make a simple tunnel even more enticing.

<h2>5 ways to make tunnel play fun and exciting for your toddler</h2>

<h3>’Commute’</h3>

Give your child an activity they already like—puzzles work great for this—and place different parts of it at either end of the tunnel. Many toddlers are motivated to crawl through the tunnel to grab a piece and crawl back to the other end to place it into the puzzle’s base. This isn’t just fun for them, but it also involves some problem-solving and trial-and-error: how do they crawl while holding onto something? How do they remember what they grabbed the puzzle piece for? How many pieces do they take in one trip?

This activity can be done with anything that involves multiple components, like a ramp with cars, a posting toy, and filling and emptying containers.

<h3>’Shake the tunnel’</h3>

As your toddler crawls through the tunnel, give it a good shake. Toddlers love this kind of movement—you can shake, roll, or rock the tunnel gently from side to side. 

<h3>Water play</h3>

Lovevery’s Play Tunnel can be soaked and dried quickly without being damaged. On a warm day, bring the tunnel outside and use it for water play. You can put a baby pool at one end and invite your toddler to crawl in and out, aim a sprinkler to rain on the roof of the tunnel, or run a hose through it so they crawl through a small amount of water.

Note: Please supervise your toddler closely and stay within arms’ reach while they play, as they can drown in as little as one inch of water.

<h3>Ball pass</h3>

Sit just outside one end of the tunnel, with your toddler at the other. Place a soft, squishy ball at your end, then lift up the tunnel a little so the ball rolls toward your toddler. Encourage your toddler to lift the tunnel on their end to roll the ball back. The lifting and rolling action is great motor planning practice and requires you to work together—an early exercise in teamwork. You can also invite your toddler to sit just inside the tunnel and push the ball forward with their crawling motion to get it all the way through.

<h3>Reading fort</h3>

For a quieter activity, turn out the lights and put a stack of your toddler’s favorite books inside. Offer them a flashlight and invite them to look at the pictures. You can also join them at one end to read books—the cozy nature of the tunnel may encourage them to sit and listen for a little longer than usual 😉