As soon as your little one finds their feet and starts moving around, there will be no stopping them as they embark on a journey of experimentation and exploration. They’ll grab every opportunity they can to rush around and try to understand every inch of the world around them. Once they’re walking confidently and steadily, you might want to introduce your toddler to their first tricycle. A firm favourite for generations, it’s little wonder why. Children can begin to learn to ride a trike from as early as nine months old – and the developmental benefits that come with it are plentiful. Here, we take a look at how trikes build more than just confidence in little ones and consider how you can encourage this exciting stage of development.
Coordination and balance
For your child’s first trike, choose one that’s stable in its design with a wide base and this will help them to achieve that perfect balance. Through practice, they’ll learn how to distribute their weight evenly for a comfortable ride. It will also soon become second nature for them to engage and coordinate their arms and legs in such a fashion that ensures the trike moves and doesn’t topple over. The 4-in-1 My First Trike is an ideal starter trike for little ones – it’s appropriate for adventurous nine month olds (as parents push) and takes them right through to five years old (when they’ll pedal and steer themselves).
A sense of achievement
Riding a trike is great for developing independent thinking. Little ones will teach themselves how to get on and off the toy and then move it from one place to another. All this ties into their developing confidence and feeling a huge sense of achievement once they’ve perfected these new skills – so be sure to give them plenty of praise when they do.
Learning to show initiative
Once they’ve gathered a little more confidence on their trike, that and their developing creative skills will spur them on to take more initiative. For example, you may notice they’re using their trike and new-found mobility skills to transport books or toys from one area to another. As their play becomes more advanced, you’ll notice that so too does their ‘thinking for themselves’.
Imagination and creative play
Once your child is confident on their trike, the only thing limiting their play is their imagination. Encourage them to get involved in bike role play, which will help further stretch their creativity and allow them to understand more about the world around them. Ask them to be a pizza delivery person, ambulance services or traffic police. Help them to understand more about key roles and they’ll soon be applying this empathy in everyday life. Choose the Perfect Fit 4-in-1 Trike to fuel their imagination as they master pedalling and steering for themselves.
Awareness of the world around them
As your little one becomes a regular rider, they’ll soon discover more of their surroundings and develop an understanding of what keeps themselves and others safe. It’ll become instinct for them to slow down, make a turn or come to a stop in certain scenarios. They’ll learn to negotiate pathways and obstacles with ease. The trike also helps nurture that inherent sense of exploration and sets them on a path of discovery towards answering the questions they’re so curious about. It’s this kind of critical thinking that will set them up with skills for life.
The trike is a much-treasured tradition of the childhood years. While children benefit from hours of fun, you can rest assured they’re developing the physical, emotional and social skills that’ll set them up for life. Want to discover more? Head to over to our trikes range now.
