Has your child ever felt they’re not tall enough to reach a table? Are they really impatient to just get taller? If this is the case, then a learning tower is definitely for you. From the educational advantages to the opportunities of boosting social skills, learning towers have endless positives.
This blog, though, will be diving into the practicalities of this product, like when to start and stop using it, and its key safety features.
What exactly is a Learning Tower?
A learning tower, also known as a toddler tower, is an elevated stand that is used by a child to experience things at a greater height. A typical tower includes:
- A guardrail is used to prevent the child from falling
- An adjustable height for when your child grows taller
- A stable and wide base, to ensure your child’s safety
Learning towers can be used for:
- Helping in the kitchen
- Reaching a tall shelf
- Doing creative things at higher surfaces
- Brushing teeth at the sink
- Watching adults complete activities at a safe height and distance
For safe seating alternatives during mealtime, explore our baby high chair collection.
Why Parents and Kids Love Learning Towers
As you may have noticed, learning towers are very lovable items, and provide many different benefits. Therefore, these towers are bound to make you and your child extremely happy. But for what reasons?
- Promotes Safety: Toddler towers allow for safety at an elevated height, providing more enjoyment in a safe space.
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Convenience: A learning tower takes away that constant worry about where your child has gone and whether they’re being safe. Learning towers will guarantee your toddler to be in a safe, enclosed space, due to the railings around the tower.
Kids love learning towers because it allows them to play safely at elevated spaces. Good quality learning towers, such as the one on the Allis Baby website have accessories such as a blackboard giving your child more things to do.
When should you introduce a Learning Tower?
While the height of the majority of learning towers can be adjusted, it’s important to know when you need to introduce your toddler to it.
Recommended Starting Age:
Typically, the starting age for children to use a toddler tower is 18 - 24 months
Anything under this age would be unsafe, as they may not have learnt how to stand up yet.
How Learning Tower Benefits Kids at Every Stage
Learning towers can be used for totally different things at different stages of their lives.
For Infants (Under 1 Year)
- Crawling in and out of the learning tower can allow the infant to develop their motoring skills. This view is supported by the NHS: “Crawling is excellent for developing muscles and sometimes older children who never learnt to crawl continue to have some weakness in their muscles.”
For Toddlers (2-3 Years
- Learning towers will let toddlers do more complex activities, such as drawing, pouring, and general hand - eye coordination
For Children (4-6 Years)
- Again, learning towers will present older children with more complicated actions, like helping out in the kitchen.
- Also, a good learning kitchen can provide children with an introduction to basic routines, such as making breakfast at a certain time, and learning to be safe around tall surfaces and shelves.
Keeping Your Child Safe in a Learning Tower
While learning towers are notoriously safe, keeping your child safe in the learning tower is, as always, very important. Here are some tips for keeping your child safe:
Potential risks:
- Tipping over
- The child hitting their head
- Your child falls from the tower
- The tower is assembled in an improper way
- Access to unsafe items
- The child falls off the tower
Ways of avoiding these risks:
- Always supervise your child when they are using the learning tower
- Read the instructions very carefully when constructing the learning tower. Also, make sure everything is securely fastened to prevent the tower from collapsing.
- Place the toddler tower on a flat, non-slip surface to prevent the learning tower from falling over.
- Teach your child the safety boundaries, such as how to climb safely in and out. Also, make sure you tell your child that they can only get onto the toddler tower when you are with them.
- Keep it away from hot or sharp objects as your child will be able to reach things that they won’t be able to reach normally, so please be wary of things they shouldn't be touching.
For similar adjustable safety features, check out this convertible baby high chair (Light Grey).
Adapting the Learning Tower
As your child grows, the learning tower will need to be adapted in different ways to suit your child’s needs. They will need new games as the birds roll by, so here are some ideas:
Fun activities to Try at Every Age:
- Peeling soft vegetables: This will not only provide some good early life experience, but will also give you a helping hand with the cooking!
- Helping wash dishes: Again, this would help you with some chores, and give them some good experiences.
- Painting and drawing:Drawing and painting can still be done at higher levels, and it might even be more fun to do so.
- Pretend play scenarios: The learning tower can be transformed into a knight’s castle, or your child can be a pretty unicorn on a cloud.
As toddlers grow, a versatile Amethyst high chair adapts with height and recline options.
When it’s time to Move on from a Learning Tower
No matter how much you will love your learning tower, it will inevitably outgrow your child, mentally or physically. The question is: when?
Signs your Child has Outgrown it:
- They’re too tall for them: As your child gets taller, you should adjust the height of the learning tower to fit their purposes. However, when they exceed the greatest height that the toddler tower can go, then it’s time to move on.
- They no longer want to use it: When your child finds the learning tower boring, and they don’t want to use it anymore, again, it’s time to change it.
- It’s less safe than it was before: Your child may find that: as they grow taller, they’re more able to jump straight off the learning tower rather than normally sliding out of it. When you notice that this is occurring at a steady rate, then you should stop using it.
Better Alternatives for older kids:
- Get a non-slip sturdy step stool
- Make your table lower, and more accessible to your children
- Buy an adjustable table or chair, and you can lower it when your child wishes to use it.
FAQs
1. Can one learning tower work for multiple kids?
Yes, your learning tower can work for multiple kids, as long as they use it one at a time. However, if you have two kids squabbling over who can use the toddler tower at one certain time, then it would be better if you get one for each child.
2. How is a learning tower different from a step stool?
A step stool does not have a guard rail, while a learning tower does. Also, learning towers are taller than step stools. Therefore, step stools are more suitable for children of older ages, and learning towers are more for infants.
3. Do learning towers grow with your child?
Yes! The majority of learning towers have multiple tiers that allow you to change the height of it, as your child grows taller.
Final Thoughts
Today, we’ve gone through the benefits of a baby learning tower, and when to start and stop using it, and fun activities involved with them . I hope you’ve received some good advice about these amazing items, and if you think you’ve been persuaded, then hop on over to the Small Smart website to buy your own today!
