The Play Space
Cruising along furniture.
You can make the most of cruising with strategic arrangement of furniture and small obstacles for cruising over and around. Try implementing these ideas to adapt the play area for crusing.
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Just like with pulling up to stand, you’ll need to provide your baby with safe and stable surfaces for them to practice cruising along. Coffee tables without pointed corners or edges, the sofa, a stable chair, and other furniture.
The height of the surface makes a difference how your baby uses their body. Mid-chest height is the ideal height for cruising. If the surface is too low, your baby will be leaning too far forward, relying predominantly on the supportive surface to support their body weight, making it so that they don’t need to rely on their legs. If it is too high, they won’t be able to use their arms to help with balance.
Be mindful that if your furniture is not secured properly, it can be deadly if it tips over when your baby is pulling up to stand.
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Keep items on hand to create small obstacles for your baby to cruise over or around. If your baby is cruising along the couch, try placing these obstacles in their path:
A scrunched up blanket or a pillow. Walking over the soft and uneven surface challenges your baby’s balance and foot, ankle, and leg strength.
A metal baking pan. Your baby will need to rely on their depth perception to step over the edges and into the pan.
A short box or step stool. Stepping up onto a small height prepares your baby for climbing and requires strength to step up. It requires depth perception, and the ability to shift their weight onto one leg while taking a step up.
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Toy placement continues to drive movement. Consider the placement of toys on the cruising surface. If your baby is pulling up to stand at the couch, place a toy just outside their reach on top of the couch. This will encourage your baby to make attempts to cruise along to get to the toy.
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Position 2-3 pieces of cruising-safe furniture within reach from one another. This arrangement creates an environment where your baby can transfer from one supportive surface to another. I call this, “island hopping.”
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Babies don’t just cruise along furniture. The wall is a great location to level up their cruising, and increase their reliance on their legs.
That’s because they can’t lean over on the wall and take weight off of their feet like they can on other pieces of furniture. There’s nothing to hold onto.
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Having feet exposed allows for a rich flow of sensory information through your baby’s feet as they navigate a variety of surfaces.
It also allows them to use their toes, and all the tiny muscles of their feet, to balance on different terrain. As these muscles of the feet strengthen, they end up developing into the arches of the feet.
And strong muscles supporting the feet can help prevent injuries later in life.