Best Wooden Baby Walkers To Support Baby’s First Steps

Best Wooden Baby Walker
Best Wooden Baby Walker

For parents looking forward to your baby’s first steps, here are the best wooden baby walkers and why they’re great.

Today we’ll compare by age — and find the best walker for your baby’s age and developmental stage.

Most baby walkers are labeled for 12 months and up — but with proper safety precautions, certain baby walkers are suitable for babies as young as 6 months.

As soon as your little one starts scooting around, they’re ready to play with certain types of baby-safe walker toys. (Not a bouncy seat, those are bad.)

Modern baby walkers offer activities that your baby can enjoy even before they can walk — like open-ended blocks, games, and puzzles.

Let’s walk you through what you need to know.

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In a hurry?

You’ll miss out on all sorts of helpful tips I wrote about later in this baby walker shopping guide…

But if you’re short on time — here’s the fast way to find one right for you:

  1. Lababe 3-in-1 wooden activity center is best for 9 Months
  2. Cossy wooden baby learning walker perfect for 12 Months
  3. Cossy Wooden baby walker is ideal for 18 Months
  4. Radio Flyer classic walker wagon is big enough for 24 Months and up
  5. Luma Goods Co. offers the most stylish walking wagon of the bunch
  6. Le Toy Van includes a top-of-the-line wooden block set
  7. Mamatoyz is a speed-focused sporty baby push walker
  8. Raven Skull Magic makes those first steps even more memorable

5 Reasons To Love Baby Walkers (Plus A Word Of Caution)

(A) Push toys are fun and full of excitement for babies. What better way to encourage taking baby steps toward walking!?

(B) Babies need exercise! Set up a safe environment for your baby to move around in — you’ll thank yourself later while they’re sound asleep. Here’s to active healthy babies!

(C) Babies need a little support sometimes. A tiny bump or scrape — and a parents’ embrace is like a million warm blankets. While your baby’s trying to pull themselves up and stay standing up — a baby walker is the ideal support.

(D) The wooden baby walkers we recommend are stable, sturdy, and baby-safe. That’s to help your baby achieve stability and balance as they learn to walk.

(E) Not to mention — for hardwood floors, you need wooden walkers with protective rubber wheels that won’t cause any wear and tear. Plus they grip the floor better for added stability. You can thank me for that tip later!

Friendly Word Of Warning

Harvard pediatricians say “bouncy seat” baby walkers are unsafe, and are known to lead to serious accidents.

Don’t buy a baby walker with a bouncy seat and wheels.

Instead, shop for baby-safe wooden walkers.

The two are very different.

Best Wooden Baby Walkers For 9-24 Months

Best For 9 Months: Labebe Activity Push Toy

See it on Amazon

Labebe brand’s baby learning walker is a 3-in-1 wooden activity push toy.

While it’s recommended for ages 12 months to 3 years on the label — every detail of this toy is thoughtfully designed best suited for the younger months.

Can a 6-month-old baby use a walker? With proper supervision, babies can start playing with their walker as early as 6 or 9 months.

Part push cart, part walker wagon, part toy chest — as your developing baby learns the ropes walking around, they’ll discover a versatile range of educational activities to try.

Babies can sit on the floor playing independently. Or stand up, push the cart, and get walking.

Plus, it’s got quality rubber ring wheels to protect your hard floors.

Labebe brand also offers ab adorable animal-shaped baby walker and a stimulating animated musical baby walker.

Best For 12 Months: Cossy Wagon Walker With Blocks

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Cossy brand’s wooden baby walker with bright and smiley blocks is absolute eye candy!

With tropical colored blocks in lime and mango and an adorable animal-shaped wagon — this baby walker with blocks is best suited for one-year-olds to explore the world around them.

12 months old is the perfect age to boost your child’s fine motor skills with activities like block play.

Cossy’s baby blocks walker comes with 34 blocks in all shapes and sizes — cubes, rectangles, triangles, arches, and columns.

Best For 18 Months: Cossy Baby Activity Walker

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Recommended for babies 18 months and up, cossy brand’s baby activity walker is a first birthday gift your little one will be glad to receive.

Unlike other baby walkers we’ve looked at so far — this toy is part baby walker, part activity cube.

Get ready for all sorts of fun baby games, a baby counting abacus, a working xylophone, and rubber-trimmed setback wheels!

Made baby-safe and learning-friendly with all-natural wood, count on an exciting activity center to keep your baby busy!

Best For 24 Months: Radio Flyer Baby & Toddler Push Wagon

See it on Amazon

Into Americana? Try Radio Flyer’s traditional wooden walker for babies.

Radio Flyer brand has been serving America for decades. A fusion of the alluring traditional look and modern walker technology.

Believe me, baby walkers’ safety and walkability have come a long way since I was a kid.

Radio Flyer is a classic American brand that’s been around since WWII. They’re a modern classic toddler walker wagon — like a piece of Americana for your little one’s first steps.

Suitable for ages from 1 to 4 years. Even after your little one turns two, they’ll still get years of playtime out of this timeless wooden wagon.

Best Wooden Baby Walker Wagons: Lifestyle Picks

Most Stylish: Luma Goods Co. Wooden Walker Wagon

See it on Etsy

With a cool retro feel in a modern color palette, the Luma Walker’s elegant Nordic design truly sets it apart from the rest.

For parents who love toys with fresh aesthetics, this one’s the most fashion-forward baby walker available.

It’s a 2-in-1 toddler walker and wagon, with open storage for toys, blocks, clothes, and more!

Best Block Set: Le Toy Van Rainbow Blocks Baby Walker

See it on Amazon

For babies who love blocks, here’s your best bet!

Le Toy Van’s Petilou rainbow cloud walker toy comes in a delightful soft cloud shape for a whimsical babyhood!

But the real attraction here is the blocks!

The wagon comes equipped with 45 premium rubber wood blocks painted in baby-safe non-toxic rainbow colors.

It’s an ultra-creative open-ended block set — including rainbow-colored wooden unit blocks in an educational variety of sizes, shapes, and colors. Beautiful color.

The blocks are specially designed for small hands — so this is a baby walker block set perfect for your little one’s early years.

Most Sporty: Mamatoyz Wooden Baby Push Scooter

See it on Etsy

Before your baby is ready for a balance bike, here’s a speed-safe wooden baby walker for babies on the go!

It’s shaped like a baby tricycle so your baby has space to move their feet without tripping. Yet it has four knobby indoor-outdoor hybrid wheels — with foot space between the front axles for added walkability.

With adjustable wheels, you can tune the walker to your baby’s skill level or easily fold it away for storage. That’s a big plus!

For families who want their child to participate in athletics later in life — Mamatoyz’s walker is the best pick to get your baby on track.

Best Personalized: Raven Skull Magic Custom Name Baby Walker

See it on Etsy

Personalized wooden baby walkers a great way to commemorate your child’s first steps and make a wonderful first birthday gift.

Custom engraved with your baby’s name — this baby walker turns into a keepsake for a lifetime.

Their block walker includes 34 pastel building blocks decorated with happy animals as cute as could be. Their rainbow walker includes a 5-sided activity cube with all kinds of creative shape sorting activities — plus a chalkboard to draw on!

A perfect blend of motor skills and creative development — plus the perfect name you picked out!

Baby Walkers 101: FAQ & Parent’s Guide

Activity Center vs. Wagon With Blocks – Which Is Better?

The most popular baby walkers come in two distinct types.

  • Baby Activity Walkers stand tall with all sorts of busy baby activities on the sides. They’re equipped with baby-friendly gizmos, puzzles, and color matching activities.
  • Walker Wagons With Blocks have a low center of gravity because the heaviest part is a wide wagon with a complete set of wooden blocks that fit into the wagon perfectly.

Which type of baby walker is best? My personal preference is for the block set baby walkers. Open-ended block play lends itself to unlimited creativity — and these baby-ready unit block sets offer an amazing variety of different shaped blocks and vividly appetizing colors.

How do you teach a baby to walk in a walker? The right age to start with a baby push walker ranges from 6 months to 24 months. Young toddlers as old as 4 years may still play with their push walker.

So, it’s no wonder most of the baby walkers we looked at today are specified for 9 to 18 months. It mostly depends on your baby’s stage of motor development. Be patient, and they’ll start scooting soon!

I understand how much you look forward to your little one’s first steps. With encouragement and patience, your baby will get there!

Here are my two cents to help.

The Montessori-way would be to leave the brand new walker accessible in your baby’s playroom. The idea is to let your child explore at their own pace.

Baby walkers are not official Montessori equipment — but their developmental principles are well aligned with an at-home Montessori environment.

Lots of parents take this back-to-basics approach, by laying their baby on the floor on their tummy and let them explore.

Your little one will eventually try out their new shiny walker. Often right away!

Be patient and present play opportunities to get them active! Your new walker will blend in perfectly.

Are Baby Walkers Banned? Are They Dangerous?

It will come as a little bit of a shock to hear that as of 2018, certain baby walkers were banned in Canada because they were deemed unsafe to use. As of 2021, the United States baby walkers are still widely available.

Why are they banned? First off, you need to know that not all baby walkers were banned. The kind with a bouncy seat installed — that’s what’s banned.

The bouncy seat hoists up children who cannot crawl or walk by themselves, leaving them unprepared they can move around before they’re ready to. And that’s what leads to accidents.

A Harvard study writes about bouncy seat walkers:

Learning to walk isn’t so much about learning to use your legs. It’s more about learning to pull to stand and then balance and take steps without support. When babies are plopped into walkers, they don’t learn any of that. They learn it by being put on the floor with something they can pull up on, like a couch or a caregiver.

Don’t buy the baby walkers with a bouncy seat.

It’s a baby seat on wheels for babies who aren’t ready to walk.

Choose a sit-to-stand walker — one that leaves your baby’s legs free and lets your child pull themselves up on their own.

Never use any baby walker near an open staircase. Never use a baby walker near a pool. Stay away from slanted surfaces like a driveway.

Keep dangerous things out of reach, for example on surfaces your baby can now reach with the help of their walker.

Injury and accidents are much less likely for indoor use with proper safety precautions and parental supervision. That’s the right way to introduce your new baby walker.

Baby Walker Alternatives: What Else To Try

Rest assured, your baby will learn to walk one way or another.

Yes, even without buying a baby walker. The truth is babies don’t need a walker to learn to walk.

Nothing beats mommy and daddy helping them walk because no toy can compare to the power of a parent’s love, affection, attention, and encouragement.

Wooden baby walkers that check all the safety boxes are worth your serious consideration. They’re low-cost for a high-quality toy that encourages early-stage motor development.

If you’re considering a purchase different from a baby walker — there are alternatives that you can use instead of a walker.

Here are a few highlight toys that can help your baby learn to walk:

Baby Walker Alternatives Pikler Triangle Wobble Board Activity Cube

(A) Baby Activity Cube (No Wheels)

If you love the baby activity walker for its activity center — here’s a baby activity cube without wheels. Your little one will enjoy educational and entertaining baby puzzles. You’ll enjoy peace of mind knowing your baby stays put.

(B) Baby Wobble Board

Most parents hope their baby walker will help the baby learn to walk a little bit sooner. But remember, walking is not the only essential motor skill.

Balance and muscle strength can be trained before your baby takes their first steps — simply laying down or crawling. In addition to toddler and big kid sizes, you can also find baby-sized wooden wobble boards.

Bunny Hopkins brand makes the most beautiful rainbow-colored baby wobble board — available in the baby-perfect size.

We reviewed all the best wooden balance boards where you can learn more.

(C) Indoor Climbing oys

First-time parents might expect babies to walk before they can climb — but it’s quite the opposite.

When your baby’s just starting to scoot around and climb on things, maybe it’s time to consider an age-appropriate climbing toy.

Even before your baby’s ready to climb to the very top, they get lots of valuable practice with their gross motor skills (large body movements).

We reviewed all the best indoor wooden climbing toys for your further reading. You’ll discover an entirely new world with wooden climbing toys of all shapes and sizes. Eureka!

I’d recommend you take a look at the Pikler Triangle first. Wood & Hearts brand is quality, low-cost, and colorful.

Over to you!

There are lots of reasons to love wooden baby walkers. Yet some parents scare away due to what they’ve heard about bouncy seat walkers.

The two are very different types of baby toys.

Take simple safety precautions. Provide parental supervision. And watch through the smiles and giggles as your baby learns to take their first steps.

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