Importance of Crawling in Preschool

Crawling time for children is very important to child’s development not only for physical coordination but also for brain development. When children use alternating sides of the body at the same time (right arm and left leg, then visa versa) this movement helps to increase communication between the two sides of the brain.



Connecting the tow sides of the brain is a fiber that bridges the two sides together known as the corpus callosum. When children use the crawling movement during play activities the two sides of the brain are forced to communicate and this strengthens the nerve-cell pathways that link both sides of the brain through the corpus callosum.


Building and strengthening these nerve-cells pathways in the preschool setting is import because when children start to learn to read and write it is necessary to be able to cross between the two hemispheres, working from one side of the paper to the other fluidly.


To encourage the crawling movement


• Set out tunnels or long card board boxes so that the children will crawl through them.

• Play movement games that children pretend to be animals like (dogs and cats).

• Let the children have crab races. (children are still alternating sides when the don’t let their knees touch the ground)