How Crawling Helps Boost Communication, Feeding, Problem-Solving, and Social Skills

How Crawling Helps Boost Communication, Problem-Solving, and Social Skills

As parents, we eagerly anticipate our baby’s first steps, imagining the day they take those tiny, wobbly strides into the world. But before your little one begins walking, there’s an essential stage that sets the groundwork for many skills—crawling. Although crawling is often seen as just a motor milestone, it’s so much more. As a Speech-Language Pathologist, I often emphasize how crawling is a building block for development in communication, feeding, problem-solving, and social skills. Let’s explore how this simple act of crawling contributes to your baby’s growth and how you can encourage it.

Crawling and Communication Skills

You might be surprised to learn that crawling on all fours plays a critical role in your baby’s language development. While crawling is typically viewed as a gross motor milestone, it’s deeply intertwined with many cognitive and communicative processes that your baby will carry into childhood.

Bilateral Brain Communication

One of the significant benefits of crawling is that it strengthens both sides of the brain. When your baby coordinates their arms and legs to crawl, it stimulates bilateral brain communication through an essential area called the corpus callosum, which links the brain's left and right hemispheres. This interaction between the hemispheres lays the groundwork for higher-level cognitive functions, including speech and language development.

Seeing, Hearing, and Labeling

Crawling gives babies a whole new way to explore their environment. As they move across the floor, they encounter a variety of objects, textures, and sounds from a different perspective. Repeatedly seeing and interacting with the same items strengthens their understanding of the world around them. Repetition is key to building neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to form and reinforce neural connections—a vital part of learning.

As your baby encounters the same objects again and again, you can enhance their learning by labeling these items. For example, if they crawl past a chair or reach for a toy, you can point and say, “Chair” or “Ball.” Over time, your baby will begin to associate the word with the object, expanding their vocabulary long before they start to speak.

Strengthening for Signing

Crawling also helps your baby develop strength in their hands, wrists, and shoulders, which is important for babies learning to use sign language. Many parents introduce simple signs to communicate with their babies before they can talk, such as "more" or "milk." The hand and wrist strength gained from crawling may make it easier for babies to replicate the signs you show them. In turn, this strengthens the connection between verbal language, signing, and objects, providing a full sensory experience that enhances their understanding.

Fun Tip: Turn learning into a fun game! Try “I Spy” while your baby is crawling. Say, “I spy the doll,” and encourage your baby to crawl towards it. You can even involve older siblings or family members to make it a group activity. Not only does this foster communication and cognitive skills, but it makes learning enjoyable for everyone!

Crawling and Feeding Skills

Did you know that crawling also aids in developing feeding skills? As your baby learns to crawl and both sides of the brain begin communicating more efficiently, the structures inside the mouth are also developing. These muscles, including the tongue, must learn to move independently for feeding. For example, moving the tongue from side to side is essential for eating and helps adults clear food from the cheek pockets to prevent tooth decay. Even the small muscles used in feeding gain strength, and coordination, through crawling!

Crawling and Problem-Solving Skills

Once babies start moving independently, a whole new world opens up to them. Crawling provides them with the chance to explore their surroundings in ways they couldn’t before. Through this exploration, babies begin to test boundaries, experiment with cause and effect, and solve problems—skills that are essential for life.

Navigating Obstacles

When a baby is crawling, they’ll encounter many obstacles in their path. Whether it’s a chair leg, a pillow, or a toy, they must figure out how to navigate around or over these objects to reach their goal. This process teaches babies essential problem-solving skills. They learn that if one method doesn’t work, they can try another.

For example, if a baby wants to reach a toy on the other side of a cushion, they may initially try to crawl over it. If that’s too challenging, they might figure out that crawling around it is easier. This trial-and-error process builds cognitive flexibility and adaptability, crucial skills for learning and overcoming challenges later in life.

Understanding Cause and Effect

Crawling also helps babies grasp the concept of cause and effect. They learn that certain actions lead to specific outcomes. For instance, crawling towards a toy allows them to grab it. Crawling towards a loved one results in a hug or attention. Understanding cause and effect is foundational for future learning, especially in subjects like math and science.

Personal Story: When I was a baby, my family had an antique table with a low shelf in the living room. One day, I attempted to crawl under the table to reach a magazine, only to get stuck between the shelf and the floor. My legs were on one side of the shelf, my torso was on top, and my arms were stretched out on the other side! Naturally, I cried for help, and my mom came to my rescue. This event wasn’t exactly a problem-solving victory for me, but I did learn that sometimes the most direct route isn’t always the best one. From that day on, I figured out that crawling around obstacles worked better than going through them—at least with that table!

Crawling and Social Skills

Crawling isn’t just about movement; it’s also about connection. As babies become more mobile, they can interact with their environment and the people around them more freely. This newfound independence fosters not only their confidence but also their social skills.

Increased Interaction

When babies can crawl, they’re no longer dependent on adults to bring things to them. They can move toward toys, people, or pets that interest them. This mobility encourages them to engage with their surroundings, which helps develop their social skills.

For instance, a baby might crawl towards a sibling to join in playtime or move toward a parent to ask for attention. These early social interactions strengthen their communication skills, even before they begin speaking. Babies may use gestures, sounds, or facial expressions to indicate what they want, laying the foundation for future social exchanges.

Confidence Building

Crawling also boosts a baby’s confidence. Being able to move independently gives them a sense of control over their environment. They learn that their actions can affect outcomes, such as reaching a toy or getting closer to a loved one. This growing confidence makes babies more likely to initiate interactions with others, which is a key part of developing strong social skills.

Fun Social Game: A simple but effective way to encourage social interaction while crawling is to play a ball-rolling game with family members. Sit in a circle on the floor and roll a ball to each other. As the ball rolls, name the family member it’s going to and encourage your baby to crawl after it. For example, say, “Crawl to Grandma!” Once your baby reaches the ball, cheer them on and then ask them to roll it to someone else. Then, they can crawl to the next family member and continue the game. It’s a fun way to build motor skills and social engagement at the same time!

How to Encourage Crawling

As a parent, there are several ways you can support your baby’s crawling development. Here are some strategies to encourage this important milestone:

1. Give Them Plenty of Floor Time

Babies need lots of opportunities to be on the floor, especially for tummy time. Tummy time helps strengthen the muscles in the neck, shoulders, arms, and core, which are essential for crawling. Incorporate tummy time into your baby’s daily routine, starting from birth.

2. Use Toys as Motivation

To encourage crawling, place toys just out of your baby’s reach. This gives them the motivation to move toward the object. Celebrate their efforts, even if they don’t make it right away. The journey toward reaching the toy is where the learning happens!

3. Create a Safe Space

Ensure your baby has a safe, baby-proofed area to practice crawling. Use pillows, rugs, or play mats to cushion any falls and provide different textures for exploration. A soft but firm surface gives babies traction as they move.

4. Model Crawling

Babies love to imitate, so don’t hesitate to get down on the floor and crawl with them! Show them how it’s done, and you’ll be surprised at how quickly they try to mimic your movements. Plus, it’s a fun bonding activity!

Trust the Process

Do we think crawling on hands and knees is important? Yes! We think crawling is important and hope we can provide enough education and support for you to think so too! 

Every baby develops at their own pace, so don’t worry if your little one takes their time to start crawling. Some babies may even skip crawling altogether and go straight to walking. While this is completely natural for some, crawling offers unique benefits in building strength and coordination (hand, wrist, shoulders, neck, tongue) that just do not seem to develop as easily at this stage without it. The most important thing is to provide support and encouragement as your baby navigates this skill, whatever that looks like for them. If you have concerns that your baby is not crawling, or begins to crawl in a different fashion other than on their hands and knees, we invite you to discuss this with your care team, and/or contact your local Early Intervention team to ask for a free screening or free/low-cost evaluation. 

Crawling is far more than just a stepping stone to walking—it’s a crucial part of your baby’s development, laying the groundwork for communication, feeding, problem-solving, and social skills that will help them thrive. So, celebrate every little crawl forward—your baby is building an incredible foundation for the future!