Veronika loves pulling up these days, anywhere and everywhere, and is making those first moves towards walking. To safely encourage those first few steps, one great practice area is a cruising station!

I lined up a few child-sized chair in our kitchen, with the backs securely against a cabinet so they couldn’t tip. I started Veronika at one end and placed a tantalizing toy on the other end, hoping to encourage her to side-step.

It turned out she was way more interested in the circular back of the chair where I had started her than in the toy!

So thinking quickly, I reversed her and started her on the other end. Now she had incentive…

She moved her hands…

…and then her little feet followed. Soon she had the gist of it, and arrived at her goal so proudly.

Success!

Eventually, I did put the toy back on the other chair, and this time she knew how to side-step on over.

This game was a fantastic success for gross motor development, and enjoyable to boot.