Toddlers love to climb — onto the coffee table, onto the couch, even moving the ottoman you keep as extra seating in your living room into the kitchen to try to reach the bowl of cookie dough you left on the counter. While it may be exhausting to try to keep up with your little one in all the places they try to ascend, climbing is actually an important part of childhood development. It helps toddlers build physical strength and coordination as well as confidence and problem-solving skills.
1. Climbing 
Builds Strength and Motor Skills
Climbing involves fully body coordination of arms, legs, hands, and torso, helping children develop muscle control and balance. Pulling themselves up to navigate different levels helps children strengthen their gross motor skills and improve coordination. When toddlers engage their muscles in this way they are laying the foundation for later activities like running, jumping, and writing a bike.
2. Climbing Improves Spatial Awareness
When toddlers climb they learn the spatial awareness for how their bodies move. They learn limitations — how far they can reach, how high they can go, and how to adjust their movements to stay safe. This spatial awareness also helps them understand concepts like “around,” “under,” and “through,” which they will rely upon later in cognitive and language development.
3. Climbing Supports Problem-Solving Skills and Confidence
To a toddler, every climbing challenge is a puzzle to be solved. Toddlers must decide where to place their hands and legs and how to shift their weight in order to ascend the object. These small decisions build critical thinking and problem-solving skills as children learn perseverance through trial and error. Successful climbing also gives a child a sense of accomplishment, enabling them to trust their own abilities. Supervised and safe climbing allows children to grow in confidence and resilience.
Fostering Safe Climbing at Home
While it is not necessary to purchase items for a safe climbing experience for your toddler at home, some climbing toys are worth considering as they will likely offer your child years of play.
Soft climbing blocks or foam play sets
Many companies make play couches that double as climbing blocks and are easily made into forts and other play structures. At varying price points these couches provide children safe and imaginative play as they age.
Toddler-friendly climbing sets
The Pikler Triangle is a play structure designed on the principles developed by Dr. Emmi Pikler (a Hungarian Pediatrician who introduced new theories of infant development and put them into practice at an orphanage she ran). While the original Pikler Triangle has impressive reviews and devoted proponents, more budget friendly options are also available.
Consider combining one of these Montessori style play sets with a landing mat for cushion and extra safety.
At Intrinsic Scholars Academy, we embrace the joy of movement. Our play spaces are designed to help children climb, explore, and grow, building strength, confidence and curiosity that will lead them through every stage of childhood.