Whether your toddler has reached that age where he or she is determined to walk instead of being carried (“all by myself!” Veronika insists) or whether you’re trying to encourage such a shift, there’s one inconvenience to those independent toddler footsteps: those little feet can go sloooow. Sometimes, a good marching song is exactly what you need to help the pace along!

This version is to the familiar tune of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, making it easy for little one’s to latch onto. So for example when we make a routine daily trek, like our walk to the mailbox, Veronika and I sing:

See the soldiers in the street,

Hear the marching of their feet.

They are singing as they go,

Marching, marching to and fro

See the soldiers in the street

Hear the marching of their feet.

This definitely helps Veronika pick up the pace. As a bonus, it can help you as the grown-up feel less frustrated, and more engaged in the moment! There’s a reason soldiers have marched to songs for millennia.