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THE TRICYCLE IS A SERIOUS BUSINESS

In my fascinating work as a psychomotor therapist, whenever I observe a child playing spontaneously, I am amazed at how ‘ inside things ‘ manage to become observable thanks to ‘ outside things ‘. The very first ‘outside thing’ we have is our body. Children’s bodies are so full of ‘inner things’ that the sound of their games, their rhythm, the way they put their feet down and move their arms through the air, the way they move their trunk, the way they coordinate all their body parts, but also their rigidity and their stretches… all these things become WORDS that tell us a story. Everyone’s story.

The toys they use are the second ‘outside thing’ and we can really make a difference here, so I keep repeating how we need a ‘big science of small details’. I say this as a specialist but I also experience it every day as mum of a 20 months old baby girl. Every day in my sessions I use, touch, experiment and try out different materials and toys; and every day the mums and educators I know ask me for recommendations on what toys are the best for children. My recommendations often focus on unstructured materials to allow children to evolve at their own pace and potential. There are also toys that support children’s motor development and can also be used both at home and in the nursery. For children under two years old, I always recommend push tricycles, while over two years old, a tricycle can really make the difference. As a mum living in a flat and as a psychomotor therapist, I found both recommendations in La cosa2: a three-wheeled ride-on/tricycle that grows with children, which can be put at their disposal and which they can use according to their needs. The “free motility” that children discover and practice according to their own wish and interest is the driving force of their first years of life. At first they will probably be pushed, sit down and want to be pushed without putting their feet on the floor. When they feel confident, they will put their feet up and find that they can move around independently. This passage is almost as magical as walking. Children feel that they are different from their mothers, they are beginning the process of differentiation from their caregivers, and the ” doing it by myself ” strengthens them emotionally; feeling capable lays the foundations for self-esteem and self-efficacy that will accompany them throughout their lives. Here are the ‘inside things’.

Whenever I see a new toy, I naturally ask myself two questions: 

– Why should I play with this toy?

– How can it support children’s development?

Pushing first and then pedalling, while driving at the same time, are very complex procedures. Let them try, let them fall and they will learn not to fall, let the children try. La cosa2 is a toy that has a design, a structure and a material that, thanks to a special feeling, allows children to feel at ease and at the same time does not keep them in a protective shell. There are no bars to help them support their trunk and this is the key to learning. If children need the protective bar, it is not their moment yet. Let ‘s observe their bodies, respect their own skills levels, and let ‘s not project our desire on what we would like them to do. Take La Cosa and leave it at home, they probably won’t look at it for the first few weeks, then one day something will change, they will try to get on and call you: that’s when your story with the tricycle begins. In terms of gross motor skills, keeping the upper body upright and pushing at the same time is an ability that children acquire from 18 months/two years old (with individual differences), the use of pedals starts around two years old and is refined further and further. Tricycle is not ‘just a toy’: It encourages the perception and development of the body schema (how children construct their different body parts spatially and how this body relates to the outside world) and body image (which has a more emotional value). 

It fosters eye-hand coordination, balance, coordination between lower and upper limbs. The more complex motor skills brought into play develop programming aspects: children will plan the movement to go where they want and therefore they will activate sustained attention, focused attention and inhibit stimuli coming from outside to concentrate on the task. 

And last but not least, the body and language are so connected that “if children can play and feel well their own body in the emotions that the pleasure of sensorimotor play arouses, they will slowly overcome the fear that blocks the use of language” G. Nicolodi. Motor skills and language are intertwined, Bownds has confirmed in a 1999 study: the embryo’s innate movements and the increasingly focused movements of children in the first years of life are the basis for all future sequential activities, including language. From an evolutionary point of view, all cognitive functions (including language) derive from the oldest element we possess: the motor function. That is why ‘things outside’ can make ‘things inside’ bloom. 

That’s why the elements that the motor skills structure are serious. The ‘inside things’ are serious. The “outside things” are also serious. So, the tricycle is serious.

Dott.ssa Margherita Bauducco
Psychomotor therapist – graphic gesture rehabilitation – TeRP
Trainer