Up onto the cushion, and down again

⏱️ 10 min📦 things you have🏠 indoor🤲 on the move🤸 Motor

Climbing onto and down from furniture unassisted is two skills, and the down half is the one that gets skipped — plenty of toddlers can get up somewhere weeks before they can get back off it safely. A cushion low enough to fall off harmlessly is where the down half gets practised.

🧺 You need

  • two or three firm sofa cushions, or one low sturdy step

🛡️ 🚨 Practise getting DOWN before anything else, feet first and backwards — a toddler who can climb up but not down is exactly how a fall from a sofa happens. Keep it low: knee height at most, with a clear soft floor all round and nothing hard within falling distance. Stay within arm's reach the entire time, and never use this on a bed, a windowsill or anything against a window.

Source: AAPDevelopmental Milestones: 2 Year Olds

🩺 Vuila shares play ideas, not medical advice — for questions about your child's development, talk to your pediatrician.

🗣 Something not right here?

Up onto the cushion, and down again

Build something knee-high and no higher

Stack two or three firm cushions on the floor, well away from table corners and hard edges, with space to land on every side.