Every toddler learns to walk at their own pace

Many toddlers are still working on taking their first steps at this age. You can help your toddler build their pre-walking skills with standing and crawling activities.

In this post:

• Activity: A simple activity to develop balance
• Article: Why crawling is important for toddlers
• Ask & Learn: My 13-month-old stands holding on to something but doesn’t cruise. How can I help her develop walking skills? 

When children begin to walk varies widely—from before 9 months to 18 months of age.

A simple activity to develop balance

Help your new or emerging walker get steadier on their feet by encouraging them to stand and pivot as they play. 

• Place the Slide & Seek Ball Run on an elevated surface, like a low table. 
• Invite your little one to stand facing the plaything while holding onto the table for support.
• Hold a ball behind one of their shoulders and encourage them to turn and get it. This forces them to let go of the table with one hand, shift their weight through their hips and legs, and rotate their upper body. To place the ball in the Ball Run, they need to rotate back again.

Is your toddler already walking? Crawling games benefit them, too.

Why crawling is important for toddlers

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

Why is crawling still important?

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

What’s the best tool for keeping your toddler crawling?

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.

5 ways to make tunnel play fun and exciting for your toddler

“Commute”

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.

“Shake the tunnel”

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. 

Water play

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.

Ball pass

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.

Reading fort

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 😉

What parents are asking our experts…

“My 13-month-old stands holding onto something but doesn’t cruise. How can I help her develop walking skills?”

Answer:

Standing is a great pre-walking skill and you’re correct to be looking for cruising to emerge soon. That leads to walking, which emerges across a wide range of ages, usually between 9 and 18 months.  

I recommend encouraging shifting weight in standing by offering items to reach for while holding cruising-friendly furniture. Place toys just out of easy reach to each side so that your little one leans slightly to get them. Also offer toys behind your child so she lets go with one hand and turns her upper body to reach them. 
While she’s standing at a surface, you can reposition her feet to activate the strength and skills for cruising. Help her bend her knee and lift one foot off the floor for brief periods of single leg standing. Two other positions to try are standing with her feet close together and standing with her feet shoulder-width apart and one foot slightly in front of the other. 
Crawling over uneven surfaces like cushions or pillows will help her build overall strength and balance. Continue with activities in half-kneel and tall-kneel positions—you can check out the Gross Motor topic section in the app for ideas. I hope you two have so much fun!

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