Following the baby crawl article we posted, we received many requests on how to make a roller or where to buy one. Then I remembered something I've had great results with... a homemade 'roller'.
Some time ago I helped a 13 month old baby with this "roller". I didn't have one around, so I made one with what was available.
But one thing I do remember is that the boy started crawling very soon after I've used this "roller".
Let's look at 2 ways to make such a roller.
Take any normal large bathroom or swimming towel.
Spread it out flat on the ground.
Reduce the width of the towel by folding it in half. You'll now have a long narrow towel.
Form a roll by rolling the towel over the length of the towel. Start at one of the short ends and finish at the other short end. You should now have a short fat towel roll... something similar to the photos below.
Use this "roller" exactly as described in our crawling article.
If the roller is too small (low), then use 2 towels rather than just one.
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But, here's another way to make a baby crawl roller.
Get 3 empty coffee tins with sealable plastic lids. These often have diameters of about 5" (12 cm) or slightly smaller.
Fill the tins with dry sand and replace the plastic lids.
Cover the tower with 1" foam rubber or 1" soft cloth.
Wrap the padded tower in denim, artificial leather or any other durable material. I like to make a tight-fitting "pillow case" in which I put the tins.
That's it... as simple as that!
Finally, use the roller exactly as outlined in our baby crawling article to see results soon.
This works well, but if you're like me, making a roller isn't always how I like to make things work. A few 'roller' alternatives you can try are the following: