Does anyone else get excited as your child hits all the milestones? I’m sure that’s a silly question, but I know sometimes as your child becomes more mobile, you might start to wish for the days when you weren’t constantly chasing your child down. I’m not at that point yet. I love that Riley is mobile even if it means I’m constantly chasing after her because she is into EVERYTHING! I am so excited that she is starting to want to cruise around the furniture. That means she is one step closer to taking her first independent steps! That is so cool!
Directions
There are a couple ways to invite your child to begin cruising around the furniture or walls. Soon you won’t need to entice them to do this, but as they are just learning this skill, these activities will encourage them to try it out!
Chase around the coffee table
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Entice baby - To encourage Riley to cruise around the coffee table, I took one of her favorite toys-her cow bath toy-and placed it on the edge of the coffee table in her sight. Riley watched as I did this.
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Let baby decide to engage - I piqued her interest. She crawled over to the coffee table and pulled up to stand. You will have more success if your child chooses to engage in the activity themselves. If I had just stood Riley up against the coffee table, she probably would have sat back down and crawled away. Since I let her come to me, she was more willing to take part in the activity.
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Keep them entertained - I moved the cow a few paces away. I know that Riley finds it funny when I “moo” for the cow, so I also did this throughout the activity to keep her entertained and engaged. Riley reached for the cow, but didn’t move for it. I bounced the cow up and down against the table and said “moo”. Riley laughed and reached, but didn’t come towards it. I didn’t move the cow closer though because I wanted Riley to come to the cow.
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Encourage first, assist second - I continued to encourage Riley to step towards the cow. Riley did end up taking a few side steps toward the cow and I cheered in response. If she hadn’t taken those steps on her own and had begun to show signs of frustration, I would have left the cow a few paces away on the edge of the table, and come over to Riley to assist her in taking a few side steps. Though I don’t want Riley to be overly frustrated, frustration can be useful in helping Riley overcome obstacles as she is learning new skills.
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Have fun - As Riley continued to come closer to the cow, I would give her a quick kiss on the cheek with the cow and moved it away again. We continued this game of chase for a couple rounds around the table.
Note: Don’t forget to switch directions! This is important in working both sides of the body equally. Riley was resistant to switching sides because she felt more comfortable going in one direction over the other.
Egg walk- This activity can be done on a couch or on the wall.
- Using painters’ tape, tape the plastic eggs to the wall. Make sure they are a good height for your child to reach while they are standing. Since we are working on cruising, you want to make sure they have to stand in order to reach the eggs, not just kneel.
- Space the eggs out so they are just far enough apart that your child has to cruise along the wall to get the next egg, but not so far that they would rather drop down and crawl to the egg instead.
- Let baby come to the wall on their own, pull up, and start collecting eggs. I was there to grab the tape and eggs as Riley went so she could keep cruising.
- If you choose to do this activity on the couch, space the eggs out along the edge of the couch, and let baby cruise around the couch in pursuit of the eggs!
Benefits
- Fine motor skills: Riley worked her hand and finger muscles as she grasped and held onto the different objects that she was cruising for.
- Gross motor skills: This activity promotes gross motor development as your child pulls up to standing, and cruises along the furniture in pursuit of the different toys.
- Coordination: This activity is promoting coordination as your child is figuring out how to side step around the table, couch, or wall.
- Hand-eye coordination: This is being developed as your child reaches and grabs for the different objects they are cruising towards.
- Problem solving: Since this is a new skill your child is learning, they are figuring out how to move their body to reach the toy they want to have.
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