GM.F.114 PUTS FEET IN PEDALS WHEN PUSHED

To start with, you will provide most of the muscle power required to move the trike, while helping her to enjoy this new experience and teaching her to keep her feet on the pedals.­

How to Assess

Materials: See the introduction to this sequence.

Method: Sit your child on the trike and place her feet on the pedals. Push or pull the trike for 2 metres. Score plus if your child keeps her feet on the pedals for 2 metres.

How to Teach

Before starting, take your child to a preschool or playgroup where she can watch children playing on trikes.

An older sibling can also provide a model for your child – riding a trike with someone else makes it much more meaningful and much more fun.

Sit on the ground in front of your child on the trike, legs on either side of the front heel and hold your child’s feet on the pedals with each hand. Now gently rock the bike backward and forward as you hold her feet on the pedals. If she is happy with this movement, increase the distance that you push her to arm’s length – backward and forward.

Next tie a rope to the front of the bike so that you can pull it and use some pieces of old stocking to gently attach her feet to the pedals. From in front, pull the bike towards you so that her feet complete a circle. If she is happy, then step back a few more paces and pull her to you again. Start your practice on a fairly slow surface such as grass or old carpet, and make sure that she never falls off while her feet are attached to the pedals – a sure way of putting her off bike riding!

When she is happy to be pulled for 2 to 3 metres in this way, remove the stocking from one foot so that one foot is attached and one is free. Again, pull her slowly forward – if the free foot comes off the pedal stop pulling and tell her ‘foot on pedal’. Don’t start pulling again until she puts her foot on the pedal. Continue this practice, alternating the free foot until she can hold the one foot on, on her own, for 2 or 3 metres. This may take many weeks but try to keep it a fun activity with other bike-riding children around. When she can keep the one foot on, release the other foot and continue your practice until she can hold them both on for 2 metres.