Five ways that tackling obstacles is great for your toddler’s development

We can see it now: your toddler is in the park... there’s a bridge to climb, stepping stones to travel over and a tunnel to crawl through. What to do first?! Having opportunities to clamber, climb and crawl is great for your toddler’s overall development. 

1) When your toddler navigates their way around obstacles, their gross and fine motor skills develop 

• Tackling obstacles challenges your toddler to grip using their hands, fingers and toes, and each time they grip your toddler strengthens their fine motor muscles. 
• As your toddler walks, climbs and carries out other large movements, their gross motor muscles are also strengthened. They then become more skillful at controlling their bodies as these larger muscles get stronger. 

2) Obstacles encourage your toddler to move in a variety of ways – this challenges their ability to stay balanced 

• They get a whole load of sensory information when they climb or move in a way that is different from walking, and your toddler needs to quickly process and act upon what they see and feel. 
• When your toddler adjusts their body position, their vestibular system learns how to stop them from falling. 

Understandably, this takes time and practice, and your toddler may have a few wobbles, slips and falls while they play. Make sure you are risk assessing with (and for) them when they’re exploring. 

3) Cognitive thinking is boosted while your toddler works out how to travel and move around the obstacles 

• Each time they are faced with a physical challenge, your toddler works out a plan of action to solve it.  
• They may draw upon their memory of previous attempts to help them prepare for the challenges ahead, and you may see them adapting their methods over time.  
• Your toddler will start to make links between past and new experiences to remember the most effective way of getting over, under or through. 

4) When your toddler is presented with physical challenges, it can help build resilience 

• Obstacles often need tackling a few times, and there’s always the chance that your toddler might conquer an obstacle one day, and then not on another.  
• When your toddler feels confident to give something a go, they are more likely to keep trying out different strategies until they complete their mission. The lure of overcoming an obstacle is fantastic to inspire this attitude. 
• There is a huge sense of achievement when an obstacle has been overcome and this really builds resilience and self-esteem. 

5) It requires a lot of coordination to use playground equipment 

• Your toddler learns how to coordinate the movements of different body parts and their senses, to help them navigate their way around during play. 
• In addition, they are finding out how to move different limbs at the same time to help them stay stable and safe. 

… and we just sneaked one more in because exploring obstacles is great for your toddler's health! 

• Enjoying play and letting them challenge themselves (safely) while playing, is one of the best ways of promoting a healthy toddler.  

For both physical and mental development, combining fun with a heart-pumping physical activity is a winning formula – you might even want to join in with the next obstacle your toddler is clambering over and see how you feel.