Step & Launch: Motor Skills for Young Kids
Category: Parenting Tips
May 6, 2025
Improving Motor Skills Through Play
Playing with cause and effect exposes your child to the world of science. Lots of giggling guaranteed when you create this homemade step launcher! Plus, gross motor activities for toddlers and young children help with growth and development.
Our Parents as Teachers program uses this Step and Launch activity to help kids with foot-eye coordination (and hand-eye coordination, of course!), as well as encouraging guessing and experimenting.
How to Set Up a Step and Launch
You’ll create a lever that allows your child to stomp their foot on one end, and launch an object on the other end—like a catapult. This simple machine can show your kid how a strong force can make something fly high—or not very high!
What you need:
- A wooden board approximately 4”x18” (the “launcher”); you can use any long, sturdy like plywood or a yard stick.
- A wooden block approximately 2”x4” (the “fulcrum”); you may be able to find a rock, brick or other small hard object that will work.
- Small, safe objects to launch such as a sponge, feather, bean bag, plastic cup, ball, stuffed animal (this we’ll call the “load”)
Safety tip: You want to use soft objects as they may go flying! If your child is older and you want to play this outside, you can introduce some heavier objects.
Instructions:
Decide where you want to do the activity. Outside can be fun so you can incorporate natural elements. But this is an easy activity to do in any room of the house.
Ask your child to help set up the step launcher on the floor with the longer board (launcher) on top of the shorter block (fulcrum or pivot point).
Place the collection of items to launch nearby and have your child choose an object. You can ask them about the object: Why did they choose it? Is it heavy or light?
Ask them to place the load on the part of the board that is touching the floor. Tell them that on the count of 3 they’ll step on the opposite side of the board. Ask what they think will happen.
Now your child can use one foot to stomp on the half of the board that is in the air. You can demonstrate first if they need that support.
Encourage your child to repeat as many times as they desire with the same object or different ones. Serve as a play partner and ask for a turn to try, or ask “who should launch something next?”
You can talk to your kids about when you see other levers around! Examples include a seesaw at the playground, a plastic spoon, a bottle opener, or a shovel.
Why We Do This
We can help children feel confident moving their bodies and understand how their actions affect the things around them. This helps kids interact with others during active social play as they run, jump, hop and play games. Plus, it introduces ideas behind science and sports at a young age.
Cognitive Benefits:
- Learn cause and effect; their action leads to something else
- Self-control and body regulation
- Predict results and experiment
- Basic science of nature, like gravity and object weights
- Sharing and taking turns
Motor Development:
- Control gross motor use of hands and feet
- Balance from standing on one foot
- Foot-eye coordination
- Develop control of large and small muscles
Language Skills:
- Help kids label objects and learn words
- Understand instructions (place the object, step on the board with your foot)
- Ask and answer questions
Watch How We Do the Step and Launch Activity with a Family!
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