This motor skills lesson is to help a toddler or beginning walker learn the technique for climbing stairs.

Toddlers crawl along the floor before trying to crawl up the stairs.

When the child can stand and stretch his legs far enough to alternate legs while walking up stairs, and also balance one side to the other on each foot, the switch from going up one step where both feet come together, to alternating legs on each step can develop.

Exercise to Practice

An exercise to develop this alternating balancing act, stair-step to stair-step, alternating the leading foot is to have the child hop on one foot, then switch to hopping on the other foot without a break in action.

Example: The helper claps once per hop and says "hop, hop, hop, hop & hop, hop, hop, hop" The symbol '&' is to change feet.

The helper holds one or both of child's hands if necessary for balance.

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