Baby walking toy and baby walker might seem the same, but there are two different things. The baby walkers with wheels where you stick the baby in like in a jumper and let them road around the house are a thing of the past. In fact, they are banned in Canada as they are a frequent cause of injury for babies under 15 months.
While some kids might just stand up and walk, others take a while so parents begin to wonder whether to buy a walking toy. Thankfully, there are various alternatives to baby walkers these days, one of which is a push walker, which doesn’t involve putting your baby in a baby seat with wheels.
Are push toys good for learning to walk?
Baby walking toys (also known as push toys) are great for when your baby can pull themself up, stand, and even cruise, as they give your baby extra support and help them balance.
However, baby walkers and jumpers don’t help a baby develop their walking. It’s more a baby walking toy, rather than a tool to teach your child how to walk.
The biggest advantage is that the child decides when and how to use it, as it doesn’t lock him in it. They can boost self-confidence when a child is too scared to let go off the coach or other furniture just yet.
What is the best walking toy for a baby?
Plastic Push Walkers with Activity Panels
The most popular baby walkers are those zebras with an activity panel. While you might think it’s great to have 2 in 1, lots of kids get distracted and instead of walking they just want to sit and play with it. This is why I recommend one with a removable activity panel.
They are cheap, lightweight, and often can be folded for storage or transport.
Now, because they’re so light they’re not the greatest for pulling up (like babies can do easily on a pikler triangle). One of the problems with these walkers is there is no traction and even on carpets they move too fast as the wheels tend to be plastic, so they might be slipping on vinyl panel floors, so practically carpets are the best surface for it.
Few reliable plastic baby walkers:
Simple Wooden Baby Walkers
The wooden baby walker is a long-lasting bany walker. They can have a tray and can be loaded with toys when they walk around. You can also load them with something heavier to make them more stable for a baby who doesn’t have the greatest balance yet.
They naturally tend to be more expensive than plastic ones, which can put parents off.
Few recommended wooden baby walkers:
- Woodtoe walker
- Coco Village (combines walker with busy board)
Alternatives to Baby Walker
Something I discovered with my son is that even when toddlers already learned to walk well, they still might enjoy pushing toys. My son would go nuts at his preschool playground pushing Cozy Coupe around like a maniac when he was 2.
This is when we realized that push toys, that can double as baby walkers, can be long-lasting.
Obviously, he wouldn’t want anything to do with a plastic baby walker, he wanted something more “big boy” like. We came up with a few options and honestly, they were all big hits.
Best toddler push toys:
- RadioFlyer Wagon
- Kinderfiets pram
- Melissa & Doug shopping cart (my son’s favorite)
- lebebe tool station
- Toddler lawn mover (or some with bubbles in it!)
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