Wooden Push Walker for Babies learning to stand and walk

If you came to this page, you might have been like me. I was browsing around for a long time trying to decide if I wanted to get a Push Walker for Little P. And if I do, when to get one and which one to get. If you are unsure, a Push Walker is also called a Learning Walker or a Walking Wagon.

Baby learning to pull up on a walker wagon and push to walk

Not a baby walker that you plonk the infant into, but a self-service piece of equipment that gives babies opportunities to work on pulling themselves up, standing and walking by themselves.

Why I want a Montessori Walking Wagon for my baby

After several months of pulling herself up, the child will find a walking wagon useful. The Walking Wagon consists of a wooden rectangular box or tray attached to four small wheels. It has a stationary vertical hand bar that the child uses to pull herself up to her feet and thence to push the “wagon” in front of her as she walks forward. – read more in this book – Montessori from the Start

Buy on Amazon

It is important to note that the Walker Wagon is not intended to force a child upright before he or she is ready. It is not a traditional ‘baby walker’ in the sense that it does not support the child’s weight to allow for unnatural patterns of movement. The Walker Wagon will provide a sense of enticement, balance and ‘purpose’ to a child’s attempts at independent movement but it can’t (nor should it!) make these movements happen before a child is developmentally ready. – montessorichild.com.au

The general consensus for Montessori toys is that the toys should:

be made of natural materials
be simple and allow the child to focus and engage on a single concept or motor skill
no extra sounds or other features that entertain and distract the baby from the purpose of the toy itself
child-size and mimics adult life
More details at What are Montessori toys?

And so I considered to get a walking wagon that was simple, made of wood and without further embellishment.

The Voila Walker Wagon. The original walker wagon sold by montessorichild.com.au. This product has been discontinued but the store recommends the Radio Flyer Classic Wagon as an alternative. More about it here.

How to choose a Learning Walker for Baby

There are many such push walkers sized appropriately for babies and toddlers, but there is still a need to discern the more sturdy ones from the lot.

So requirements pertaining to safety are also important. The push walker should be stable enough for the baby to use safely. Check out this page for notes on safer construction.

Of course price is also a factor so in the end for me, it became a choice between a brand new Radio Flyer Wagon from Amazon at or a pre-loved Plan Toys Push Walker from Carousell.

Radio Flyer push wagon vs Plan Toys baby walker

Brand new radio flyer wagon from Amazon at more than SGD$90 vs pre-loved Plan Toys walker (without blocks) at under SGD$30.

Amazon made it easy for me by making the Radio Flyer out of stock suddenly. So we visited the owner of the pre-loved Plan Toy Baby Walker, inspected it and purchased it.

Introducing the Push Walker to Baby

I had been debating when it will be an appropriate time to give the push walker to Little P. He can stand currently (Aug 25 – close to 8 months old) but he has no balance and leans or holds on to the rails of his cot and playpen or the surface of the sofa for support.

Lately he seemed to be getting stronger and reportedly has stood independently between 1-3 seconds.

Yesterday we offered it to him for the first time. He automatically reached up and pulled himself up without prompting. He habitually does that these days on any form of support he can find.

plan toys push walker

Coincidentally we had the walker at this angle (pictured above) to the sofa. And while watching him fooling around, I could see as if in slo-mo this baby shifting his weight from left to right as his hand left the sofa and the other hand reached for the handle bar of the wagon.

He stood there, face very still staring into the distance, but it looked like he was feeling how his body, his core muscles, his thighs, his legs worked just then.

And then his hand left the handle bar and he was standing by himself.

Independently.

For what seemed like a long time to me.

But in reality probably between 6-10seconds. Haha. But a magical moment for me nonetheless.

Plan Toys Wooden Push Walker Review

I wrote this section about a month after the above as I wanted to give time for Little P to use the walker before I conclude with this review.

Safety

The Plan Toys walker comes with a dial at the back which you can turn to increase or decrease the resistance on the wheels so that the cart goes slower or faster when pushed.

However, our 8-month going on to 9-month-old baby weighed in at 9.6kg recently. So when he pushes with his whole weight, he can still push the cart along pretty fast. We added weights into a plastic box that we put into the cart, but these weights are still not heavy enough I guess.

In this case, he was pushing hard with his weight so the cart skidded ahead even though the wheels were not moving. He fell on his knees unfazed.

So yes, baby has fallen on his knees, his chest and hit his face on the wooden supports when he slip and fell. This happened as he got more confident using it independently or when he got tired and clumsy but no major harm has occurred so far, bar a few red marks on the face now and then. :P

Sturdiness

This toy may be sturdier with a smaller baby, but like I said, ours is a big 9.6kg baby so it’s easier for him to try to pull up on the walker at a bad angle and cause it to fall backwards on him.

I can’t help but think that the Radio Flyer would be a more sturdy choice for him to use. (Note: Have not seen the Radio Flyer in action in real life but… the grass is always greener on the other side, yah? :P)

Radio Flyer Wagon vs Plan Toys Push Walker for easy comparison.

Functionality

Little P was absolutely obsessed with the walker at 37 weeks, almost 9 months old (2 weeks more). He wanted to walk with it every so often across the day. And when we counted, he did 5 laps up and down the corridor (with help turning the wagon around) before we stopped him. He gets more accident prone when he gets tired and clumsy. That’s when he is more likely to get sudden falls that scare him. So stopping him before he gets too tired is important.

I think the speed with which he gained confidence with it was very fast. Yesterday I helped him by manually controlling his speed with my hands on the plastic box so he doesn’t go too fast. Today he could totally do it himself. He could almost toddle along the whole lap rather smoothly, and he only fell on his knees once.

So yes, I would say the Plan Toys Learning Wagon has performed its function of supporting Little P as he learnt to move his legs in a walking motion, as long as they move in a straight line.

But I do have to say this wagon is not that friendly on the floors. It left skid marks on my homogeneous tile floors. Nothing that can’t be rubbed off so I’m not too concerned about it.

I mean, look at that disgusting grout. What would I care about additional skid marks.

Does it have any longer term usability?

I will probably update this section again when Little P is 1-2 years old. But as of now, I anticipate continued usability after Little P has learnt to walk. Simply because at that age, it seems young children start to exhibit certain behaviours. Schemas can be used to describe such behaviour.

One of these schemas is the transporting schema where toddler play involves moving things from point A to point B.

Children who have the urge to carry many things at once are exploring the transportation schema. They may carry things in their hands, in baskets, bags, purses, containers or vehicles with wheels. They may also be intrigued by vehicles that transport large quantities of materials or heavy equipment, such as construction vehicles. Children exploring transportation might enjoy books with handles, pails and baskets, toy shopping carts and riding vehicles with storage capacity.
– Schema Theory Resource (pdf file), By Amber Holmes, early learning pedagogy specialist

And one of the recommendations to support this schema is of course to have the wagon accessible for the child to use to transport objects around.