Clara-Bear does not have a lot of options for ride on toys that she can use independently. She reached the point where she was strong enough to move a toy along with her feet at the same time that she hit a growth spurt. She is too weak for the ride on toys designed for pre-schoolers but too tall for the more lightweight infant ride ons. Hard to believe that a five year old who's still wearing a size 3T pant is too tall for a ride on toy.

This is part of the reason I am so excited by our Skitter Car. What started out as a way to get Clara-Bear moving on her own while she is gaining strength and coordination has become a regular part of her Physical Therapy. The Skitter is helping Clara-Bear gain strength and progress towards using a riding toy without needing assistance.



The Skitter Car is a little different than most ride on toys. The feet are extended out in front of the rider and the arms do all the work. The rider moves his arms side to side by swinging the elbows back and forth, and this magically makes the Skitter go. The Skitter requires less balance and less coordination than a traditional bicycle. It sits low to the ground and is lightweight.

The Skitter Car is a type of plasma car (aka auto walker or swing car). The Skitter is a brand name that takes pride in its quality. The company makes it very clear that not every plasma car sold is manufactured to their same quality standards. If you saw the episode of the Ellen Degeneres Show where a Skitter was incorporated into a Games Week obstacle course then you saw this ride on car get used hard.



Children as young as two can learn to ride a Skitter Car, but as you can see in the above photo, the Skitter is strong enough for older children and for really hunky adults. In order to continue providing a quality product to their customers, Skitter offers an upgraded polurethane wheel that will not scratch or scuff floors. This explains why one of the first places I saw a Skitter being used was inside a church gym as part of a Pre School PE program. Non-scuffing wheels lets the Skitter go anywhere!



Despite all these pluses, using her Skitter has been hard work for Clara-Bear. The first challenge was mine, not hers. My young and inexperienced Skitter riders needed level ground! We tried the Skitter in our kitchen, and it was a great place for the kids to get a feel for how it worked. The kitchen is not big enough for them to get good momentum built up so I had to go outside the neighborhood in search of level training ground for my Skitter newbies.

That was when I asked if we could bring the Skitter to Physical Therapy. Luckily for us, our therapist was willing. Another PT saw it as I carried it in the building and became very excited, “we used to have one of those at the last place I worked, they are so much fun!” Once Clara-Bear’s PT tried it a couple of times, she was also excited. We’ve spoke a few times now about the different ways using a Skitter can help strengthen Clara-Bear.

We suspect that Clara-Bear had a stroke as an infant. At age 5 there is still a difference in strength between her right and left sides and she still does not like to use both hands at the same time. I saw the alternating arm swinging of the Skitter as a great way to work on bilateral coordination of her arms and as a way to improve upper body strength. That was the therapy benefit I was looking for. I was so excited to hear that there was more!



Clara-Bear’s PT pointed out that the twisting movement of the Skitter will act like one of those ab workout machines you see on TV. This movement exercises some of the side ab muscles as well as muscles in the back and hip. All this leads to increased core strength. The seat of the Skitter is broader than a bicycle seat but does not have a deep indentation for the bottom to rest in. Balance is still needed and of course, will improve with use.

The biggest eye opener for me was how much work Clara-Bear has to do to keep her feet on the foot pads of the Skitter. I assumed that since she is capable of keeping her feet on bicycle pedals while someone else pushes that she would have no problem keeping them in place on the Skitter. I’m an RN and used to be a licensed Massage Therapist. I know how muscles work. I forgot how weak Clara-Bear can be and also forgot that a relaxed looking muscle can actually be working. This is why it pays to consult a professional before investing in toys specifically for use in home therapy.

Even though the legs are not used to propel the Skitter, they are still active when the Skitter is used. The child has to be able to maintain the legs hip width apart while keeping them stretched out and bent at the knee. The feet are resting but not relaxed. The heels or soles of the feet are pushing into the footpads as the child rides. The legs are also used to brace as the rider adjusts their hips to maintain balance.

All this is hard work for a child with low muscle tone, impaired sensory processing, and poor coordination like Clara-Bear. We love the Skitter for this reason! We have no other ride on toy that works the same combination of muscle groups in such a variety of ways. The movements required to stay balanced and make the Skitter go are so different than most of the riding toys out there that it is a whole new type of strengthening workout for my Baby Bear. Love it!

I'm excited by more than the physical strengthening that occurs with Skitter use. As a delayed than weak crawler, Clara-Bear missed out on some prime brain and nervous system development. The side to side movement of the arms and legs during crawling stimulates important developmental growth that goes beyond getting the baby closer to walking.



The side to side arm movement used to propel the Skitter gives Clara-Bear an opportunity to stimulate parts of the brain that were not stimulated in her early, more medically fragile years. Any activity that makes Clara-Bear's body follow the left-right or right-left patterning that was so impaired when she was younger is a positive activity in this Mommy's opinion.

It took Clara-Bear a little while to warm up to the Skitter, probably for the same reasons we love seeing her use it. It is a different way to balance, and keeping those legs in place is hard work. The arm movement is not natural for her. We persisted past some protests, and now she smiles and willingly climbs on her car.

We gave in a little on the legs and are giving her a choice of paddling her feet Fred Flintstone style or riding with her feet up. Her PT said using the feet gives her a great hamstring workout. Unlike her Little Tykes car, the Skitter is lightweight enough that she can move it this way. I see her progressing through paddling the Skitter with her feet to riding with her feet up, just like a younger toddler would advance.

Clara-Bear is a little confused by being offered two ways to use the Skitter and keeps going back and forth between the two techniques, but she is learning to "shake, shake, shake" her arms to make the Skitter go. Every time we try it she seems more excited, more confident, and more willing to try with both feet up and feet down.

The Skitter Ride on Car is available in your choice of blue, green, red, pink, green, or yellow. They can be purchased online through the Skitter Toys website for $69.95 (when I checked the website today, they were on sale for $59.95!). Free shipping is available for unassembled Skitters. I assembled our Skitter, and though DH would have done it quicker and with less swearing, I was still proud to do it myself (with a little help from Alan).



Clara-Bear even helped DH when he put on the upgraded wheels.



Follow the Skitter Toys Blog for informative articles about the power of play, how to help your child get the most out of their Skitter, the latest Skitter news, and fun giveaways. Stay up to date on Skitter news by following Skitter on Facebook. Facebook fans of Skitter are encouraged to post pictures of their children (and themselves) with their Skitter and can enter contests for prizes on the Facebook wall.



In fact, Skitter Toys is currently offering a giveaway on their Facebook wall. Help them reach 500 fans and you will automatically be entered in a giveaway to win your own Skitter! More giveaways are promised when they reach 1,000 fans as well, so spread the word and maybe you can win your own Skitter Ride on toy!

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