I remember getting a Christmas card from Nan, a college friend from years and years ago. (She and her husband were the ones who said, “Hey, Mari. You should start a cupcake business.”) And in it, she told me about her kids and how her at-the-time four-year-old learned how to ride a two-wheeler. Without training wheels.
1 – Assemble the bike without training wheels and without pedals.
2 – Put the seat low enough so the kid can scoot himself around using his feet.
3 – He’ll get used to balancing on two wheels, and he’ll get so bored that he’ll beg you to put the pedals on so he can just go.
4 – You attach the pedals, and your preschooler is riding a two-wheel bike.
Has anyone else ever tried this?
i’m not sure why that idea isn’t THE way to teach kids how to ride bikes. awesome.
you’ll need two! thanks for stopping by, ryan!
[...] off, I’m wondering if this method may work for my balance-challenged child. Poor kid doesn’t know how to ride a bike yet and I [...]
Hey Mari! I am Dawn Batchelor’s sister-in-law and I found your blog through Rebecca’s. Fun stuff!
Hi, Chelsea! Good to see you here! FUN!
Sara just taught herself how to ride a bike this way this past week. She also taught the neighbor girl and 3 other kids on the block. It was a bike riding rodeo. Truly! Everyone learned on a little Dora bike without pedals. Each kid needed about 2hours only and they were riding their own bikes with pedals by the end of the 2 hours. The neighborhood calls it the ‘magic bike’.