What to do when your child won't stop climbing the furniture...
Before having kids, I COMPLETELY underestimated how often my living room would feel like a jungle gym.
As I'm writing this, I'm surrounded by couch cushions and pillows on the floor, a tent in the middle of the living room, and piles of blocks - all because my living room HAD to be transformed into a space station this morning.
Somedays I love watching them play and build. Other days it drives me bananas that the house has been turned upside down... again.
It would be so much easier if my kids just wanted to quietly read and do puzzles all day.
But I know they're both in their sensitive period for movement and all this building, moving, jumping, and climbing is absolutely necessary.
What is the Sensitive Period for Movement?
From birth to approximately 4 years of age children are in their sensitive period for movement.
This sensitive period is recognized by a child’s need to move. It can seem at times that they have endless energy and determination to move.
From birth to 2.5 they are focused on acquiring new forms of movement and from 2.5 to 4 they’re focused on refinement of movement and coordination.
As an aside, Montessori defines a sensitive period as a time of intense interest and development. She outlined six of these periods from birth to age six - movement, language, sensorial exploration, order, small objects, and social interactions.
Click here to read about them all.
Activities for Children Who Like to Jump Off and Climb Furniture
When you observe your child engaging in this type of movement, it’s important to remember that they’re showing you that they need to move.
At this point you can offer any almost activity that involves movement to satisfy this need.
It's also best to avoid trying to redirect them to stationary activities. This will only lead to frustration - for both of you.
You could:
1. Create an indoor (or outdoor) obstacle course - create a course with furniture, pillows, make a tunnel, etc.
Not only will this satisfy their need to move but it also tells them what furniture is safe for them to jump off of and climb on.
If they really just want to jump, you can create a "crash pad" for them to jump into. Pile pillow, blankets, and anything soft to create a soft landing for them to jump into.
2. Go to the playground - probably an obvious one but an easy way to satisfy your child’s need to move without turning the house upside down.
3. Play "The Floor is Lava" - place cushions on the floor that the child can jump to and from to avoid stepping on the "lava", i.e. the floor.
Note that your child may enjoy this activity so much that they want to play often. If you do decide to play this game, you can create boundaries around it, i.e. schedule time when they’re allowed to do it.
4. Offer something you feel comfortable with them climbing - The Pikler or Play Couch is perfect for this.
If you don’t want to buy anything, use what you have. Let them climb up on the couch or crawl up the stairs with close supervision.
5. Enroll them in an activity - If you have a child that frequently displays the need to move, climb, jump, and hang, sign them up for an activity like gymnastics, trampolining, indoor rock climbing, swimming, etc.
Many of these activities can be started as early as 12 months if you do the parent and tot classes.
