In my last blog post, I shared a lot of purposeful play ideas for walking and running milestones. I’m going to build on those foundational skills with additional lower body movements that are, in my opinion, critical to strong leg and hip development and so many other fabulous outcomes. In a future blog, I’ll share how movement and physical activity for babies, toddlers, and children is critical to their future including their interests, their anatomical development, their risk of becoming overweight or obese, their ability to make good decisions, and their impulse control. But that is a huge topic and deserves its own special focus. For now, let’s talk about lower body movement.

Here we go! 

Many of the body movements I’m going to share with you may seem “too advanced” or “too difficult” to teach your child. Remember, this is all about meeting your child where they are in their unique development journey and layering in purposeful play to support that development. You know your child. You also know yourself and how you teach your child. Yes, these movements will require some teaching, some silliness, and some vulnerability on your part. So let’s bond with our kids while we show them how to learn about their body (purposeful play), how to move their body in new ways (purposeful play), and how to build their confidence and self-esteem (purposeful play). Can you tell we will talk about purposeful play? 

The movements all resonate with kids as play. Even though it is “physical activity” to us as adults and even though you both will be exerting some energy, dare I say exercise, your child is not going to know you are exercising. They are going to see this as something new, something challenging, and something for them to master. Kids crave a few things: learning opportunities, movement, challenges, and mastery. Everyone wants to become really good at something, especially when they are hungry for it. Kids are starving for mastery - let’s give them cool things to master! 

What I’m going to share is listed below in order based on difficulty (at least difficulty in my own opinion). Feel free to skip around based on what you want to read or where you child is in their development:

• Stomping 

• High Knees / Marching

• Tippy Toes

• Standing on One Leg

• Lunges

• Jumping Off Two Feet

• Squat Jumps

• Side-to-Side Shuffling

• Side-to-Side Toe Taps

Stomping:

This one came with ease for my son. Who doesn’t love to stomp around? It felt like a natural progression with walking and is so fun to do in puddles outside. We stomped like a T-Rex and an elephant around the house. We did big, dramatic stomping and itty-bitty, quick stomping. Easy, simple, and repetitive - all great for tiny humans.

High Knees / Marching:

I thought marching or high knees would be a difficult one to teach but he caught onto it surprisingly quick. Maybe this is because we played the Walking, Walking song by by Old Town School of Folk Music so much when he was walking that it clicked quickly. This was all imitation. When I walked, I occasionally did high knees when he was looking at me. Then I would go back to walking. I would ask him if he could do it with me and his high knees were more like low knees at first but hey, progress nonetheless. I loved how this engaged his whole body and mind to coordinate the movement and remain balanced. Stick with this one, your child will get it. 

Tippy Toes:

You might associate tippy toes with being quiet in your house, sneaking around, extending your reach, and jumping. All are spot on and require calf muscle to develop stability and agility. My husband has huge calf muscles and he is the most stable and athletic man I’ve met. Hopefully my son will have gigantic “baby bulls” on his body too! For our son, we did a whole bunch of stuff around this without really realizing we were doing it. Let me give you a couple examples:

• Jason put things on our kitchen counter like his water bottle, an empty bowl, and even toys. He had to raise his arms and go on his tippy toes to reach.

• Jason enjoyed digging around in all kinds of drawers. He had to reach up and over the drawer to dig around in it, all on tippy toes.

• My husband and I’s master bedroom closet has two-tier clothes racks, the lower rack is just high enough for Jason to reach. He liked to pull off empty clothes hangers and put them back on - had to reach up on his tippy toes. 

Something I did intentionally with Jason to help with his reach and stability was taping a sheet of paper on the wall, just high enough for him to reach on his tippy toes. I then gave him stickers to place on the paper. He had to reach, balance, and then place the sticker (even better is have him peel stickers himself for fine motor skills). Did you ever think you would see the word tippy toes so many times in your life?

Standing on One Leg:

Alright, let’s modify high knees into one high knee - pause - balance - then foot back on the floor pattern. Have a wall or steady piece of furniture nearby when you do this so they can try it supported at first. When you get ready to show this move, channel your inner karate kid and strike the pose. It really is as fun as it sounds. Seriously, when is the last time you acted like Daniel LaRusso? I bet it has been a little while! You can also try out imitating a flamingo if that is more your style. I suggest living a little with some HIYAHS in there (that’s my favorite sound ever). Stand on one leg, then do the other. Then start doing it without support nearby and holding it for longer periods of time.

Lunges:

Gosh, just writing lunges and associating that with toddlers makes it seem like torture. I promise I’m a good Mom. Remember when I said this is going to take you being involved in the movements? Well, I meant it. So stand up and do this while you read it. Do not face your child straight on for this - they won’t be able to see what you are doing. Turn sideways so they can see your profile. Then take an exaggerated step forward (or backward) and just balance, don’t bend your knee into the full lunge yet (that’s too many steps for them). Then bring that foot back, next to your base foot. This first part establishes the basics of the lunge movement and builds balance. It’s incredibly difficult for a toddler, or anyone for that matter, to do a full, deep lunge without balance. Do both legs so they can feel how to balance when their legs are that far apart. When you are ready to add in the knee bend to the lunge, make sure they can see what you are doing by showing your profile like I described above. I showed the knee bend in two different ways - you may have a better way to do this too:

1. I tapped my knee and said - bend your knee.

2. I leaned my torso forward and downward toward my knee which caused my knee to bend.

Jumping Off Two Feet:

This one took a really, really, really long time. Of course, this is an easy movement to show kids, yet it takes a lot of coordination and strength for the kid to actually do it. Jason started with a little bobble, then a one-footed hoppy thing, then a mini-squat one-footed jump, then jumping in his crib, and then all the sudden two feet were involved and he could jump up and down. I think him figuring out he could jump in his crib, by holding on to the edge, was a good tipping point for him. We also took him to our local trampoline park where he could see other kids jumping and he could get that experience himself. This skill you just really have to wait until they are physically able and then try out what works for them.

Squat Jumps:

Because lower body development is not complete without some squats. Most babies are excellent squatters - my husband and I have hip envy for how flexible and durable Jason’s hips are. To teach this, connect the squat with jumping to add another layer into their development. This is a full body workout for them, balance, coordination, strength, just wow… yes please. You can even try out frog jumps with this with is squatting down, putting both hands on the floor, and transferring your weight from your legs to your hands, as you jump around. You should do it with them too, it’s great for you too and modeling behavior solidifies behavior.

Side-to-Side Shuffling:

This builds strength in the outer and inner thighs, provides hip stability, improves balance and coordination, and lights up their brain with the ability to move side-to-side, not just forward and backwards. I started this by placing my son on top of my feet and holding his hands (like we were dancing together). Then I started shuffling side-to-side (and literally said side-to-side, side-to-side, side-to-side a million times) so he could feel the movement of going side-to-side. We did this for a couple of days and then I asked him to try it. He did a wide leg, aggressive walk forward haha. So he got the idea of moving his legs wider even though he was walking forward. On a whim, I put us in our hallway facing each other (narrowing the space for him and funneling him into horizontal movement). We tried it again this way and he did a couple of steps sideways! Progress, my friends, not perfection. Now he gets so excited to do shuffling and yells “side-to-side” while he shuffles, I guess that verbal repetition really pays off.

As your child gets more sophisticated with this, you can layer in games or challenges. Try transferring objects from one place to another by shuffling side-to-side - give them a ball and have them shuffling to place the ball in a box. Then they can shuffle or run back to get another ball / item to do it again. Remember to switch which side the box is on so your child gets practice shuffling in both directions.

Side-to-Side Toe Taps:

Think about how your body felt when you were shuffling side-to-side. You extended your legs, had to balance, and had to hold your weight before transferring it. Side-to-side toe taps have a similar movement as shuffling side-to-side without weight transfer. This is an entirely new concept for toddlers who usually transfer weight without thinking. Think about it… try it. Let me know how it goes!  

Okay wow. That is a lot of movement just for the lower body. How do you do all of that? Well the answer is you do what you want, what your child likes, and what you have the time for. Here is how we do this in our house during our daily routine. Don’t discount routines, they are perfect for kids. Here is ours with a little asterisk on when we include physical development:

It is never too early to incorporate physical activity, strength, and endurance in your child’s routine. They crave movement. I’ll repeat… they CRAVE movement. Make it fun, make it purposeful, and enjoy every second of it. Your child is so amazing and capable. Below are some recommended books and music if that fits your parenting style to encourage movement and mimicking. Let me know what you think! My next blog on child development will be posted on April 11th. See you then! 

Book Recommendations:

• Hop on Pop - classic, duh - Dr. Seuss

• Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed - Eileen Christelow

• Barnyard Dance - Sandra Boynton

• Dinosaur Dance - Sandra Boynton

• Dancing Feet - Lindsay Craig

• Duck and Goose, Let’s Dance - Tad Hills

Music Recommendations:

• No More Monkeys - Asheba

• Barnyard Dance - Adam Bryant and Michael Ford

• Walking, Walking - Old Town School of Folk Music

• Ants Go Marching - Old Town School of Folk Music

Product Recommendations:

• Animal Action Cards

• Water Repellant Coverall with Fleece Lining

• Bogs Rain Boots