Crazy Crawler

My daughter is crawling all over the place these days. We typically call her “The Wild One,” but her newly acquired nickname is “Crazy Crawler.” This girl is everywhere! It’s so challenging to get much done because  she requires constant attention. As I sit here typing she has crawled around the couch and I can no longer see her. Her newest interest is eating the fireplace rocks. It’s hard to keep this age of child engaged in any activity because they are so excited to be on the move. They love practicing the new skill of crawling and it’s important to give them opportunities to do so. Please remember to stay close to your infant when trying these activities. These activities are not designed for your child alone. You must be right with them to avoid injury.

Couch Cushions

Lakeshore Learning Store and many other school supply stores carry these amazing soft climbing cushions. They are especially designed for crawling infants and toddlers. They are really fun and clean up easily, however, they are quite pricey! Really easy substitutions that we use often at my house are couch cushions. How simple is that? Stack them up and encourage your little crawler to crawl over or around it. Entice them by placing a favorite toy on the other side. Watch how your little one solves the problem of trying to get to the toy.

Tunnel

Tunnels are great fun as well. Most babies will be intimidated at first but try rolling a ball through the tunnel to encourage your baby to crawl through. I place my daughter at one entrance and then I lay down at the other end to try to persuade her to crawl through the tunnel. Usually by the time I get to the other end, about three seconds, she loses interest and starts after those fireplace rocks. If you don’t have a fabric tunnel (I found ours at Salvation Army for $3) then you can make one using boxes.

Things That Roll

Pictured are a few of our favorite rolling toys. We have a round building block, an empty plastic jar and a ball. My son will roll each toy and then my daughter will crawl after it. It’s better if he doesn’t yell, “Now, go fetch!,” but I can’t always prevent that. You can place smaller toys inside the plastic jar for more fun. I bought really large bells from a craft store and put inside the jar. If you’re going to put toys inside a jar, please make sure they will not be a choking hazard.

Stairs

Stairs are another huge safety hazard for little ones! Please be careful and make sure that stairs have safety gates and that children are supervised at all times during this activity. My personal conviction is that if I teach a child how to properly use the stairs then I won’t have to worry as much if they somehow get to the stairs without me. I teach my children how to climb up stairs safely as well as how to get down safely. This does not mean that I let them go up and down the stairs unsupervised. It just means that in the off chance they gain access to stairs without me I lessen the chance of a major injury.

Now that I’ve given you fair warning to supervise your child at all times on the stairs, I can explain our activity. Allowing your child to climb the stairs will engage a lot of different muscle groups for them and burn a ton of energy! You can place toys on different stairs to reward your child once they get there.

If your crawler is driving you crazy then try some of these activities. They will engage your crawler and give them different opportunities to practice their crawling skill. A child’s attention span is very short at this age so these different activities give them a chance to explore new heights and textures. Each activity requires your undivided attention so make sure you don’t have any other activities going on that will suddenly pull you away from your infant.