Crawling and climbing: Helping your toddler safely develop gross motor skills

Congratulations! Your baby has grown a bit and is itching for a little independence to explore the world around them. Moving independently requires the development of various gross motor skills. Developing these skills can be helped along the way with a little assistance from parents and caregivers safely working on and monitoring activities. 

What are gross motor skills?

Let’s break it down … in this instance, gross means “large” and motor means “movement.” Gross motor skills are the large, sweeping movements we make with arms, legs and torso and they help your child move around their environment.   

Why are gross motor skills important?

Movement is a part of our everyday life. Did you know from birth, babies are developing gross motor skills such as turning their heads, rolling and sitting? Kids’ bodies change as their gross motor skills develop and vice versa. Learning each new motor skill allows kids to explore their environment in different ways. The ripple effect is that it leads to more opportunities for learning and for independent movement.

In this blog post, I am going to dive into gross motor skills for the toddler set, when kids are really on the move. But know, kids continue to develop these skills until adolescence.  

As a physical therapist, I work to help kids progress with their motor skill development. However, in most cases, you don’t need a physical therapist to help your kiddos. There are a lot of ways parents and caregivers can help their kids develop these skills and have a little fun at the same time. Bonus! Gross motor play is a great way to bond with your child!

I find with little ones it’s great to do work on these activities as a part of playtime. As a reminder, these activities should be done under the careful supervision of a responsible caregiver. And don’t forget to have fun! 

Obstacle course: Create an obstacle course with cushions, pillows and blankets to work on balance and strength for exploring their environment. Make sure there are no hard, rough or sharp edges on which they can fall. You can model navigating through this by crawling and walking through the course you design. Have your kiddos help you design the obstacle course for extra practice. Then you can have them help you clean up, which is another great habit to form. 

Classes: I love classes such as parent/caregiver assisted swimming classes, toddler group classes and yoga. For swimming classes, check with your local recreation department, the YMCA or local high schools. Many offer parent and child swimming classes. 

And yes, yoga! Again, check with your rec department for toddler/parent yoga or exercise classes. You can also check out yoga or kids exercise videos on YouTube. While you’re online, check out songs for kids that have actions associate with it. Think marching along with “the ants go marching” or work on hopping and jumping with “freeze dance.”  

You can help build balance and strength while starting to build a good foundation for the importance of lifelong movement. If you are looking to reduce screen time, you can pair different actions with the books you read to incorporate movement and active learning while you read. 

Climbing: There are a lot of climbing toys available these days meant to encourage gross motor development such as wooden climbing gyms and large foam mats in various sizes. Under careful supervision, they can help with climbing and balance. However the downside of many of these toys is they can be costly. I don’t recommend buying them second hand as parts can wear down over time and not be as safe as they were when originally purchased. 

Don’t have a climbing toy or space for something like that? Check out a park! I love that more and more parks are designed with safety in mind with toddler specific activities and rubber surfacing on the ground. 

Stairs: Can’t get to the park? Try working on stairs at home — again, under close supervision. Stairs are a great way to work on building functional strength. Don’t have stairs at home? You can work on stepping up and down a step-stool to work on climbing/stepping skills. 

These are just a few ideas. If you have concerns about your child being on track for developing gross motor skills, talk to your pediatrician. They know your child well and will be able to help you understand the typical course of development. Remember, every kiddo is unique and develops at their own rate. Here’s to happy and, most importantly, safe climbing!

Katelin Keck, PT, DPT Physical Therapist Appleton Clinic

 The Orthopedics Program and Sports Medicine Program at Children’s Wisconsin have the advanced training and expertise to provide the most qualified care to growing children and teens. Our teams have specialized training in all areas of orthopedic care, including spine, trauma, fracture and concussion care.