If you’ve just bought your little one their first kids’ bike, then you probably have a few questions when it comes to teaching a child how to ride a bike. However, teaching a child to ride a bike is one of the biggest confidence-building milestones in childhood.
Most children learn to ride a bike best when the process is broken into shorter sessions, focusing on balance, pedalling, and then control. So, bike helmets on and let’s get started!
1. Start with a proper bike helmet
A bike helmet is a safety essential when learning to ride a bike.
A child’s helmet fits correctly when:
- It sits level on their head.
- There’s a gap of about an inch, or two fingers, between the eyebrow and the helmet.
- The straps and adjustments should be snug, but not uncomfortable.
- It doesn’t move about when the child shakes their head.
For extra help, take a look at our advice article on finding the right size kids’ helmet.
2. Pick a safe learning environment
If your child is just starting to learn how to ride a bike, they might not feel comfortable or confident riding with lots of other people around. Some great places to start bike riding include:
- Your back garden.
- A quiet park or playground.
- A gentle bike trail or path.
It may feel more natural to get them to cycle on grass first to help soften any falls, but the spongy surface can actually make it trickier for your child to grip and pedal properly. a smooth hard surface like tarmac works better as the wheels roll more easily and balancing becomes simpler.
Once they’re making good progress, you can start to explore some of our favourite traffic-free cycle routes.
If you’re concerned about your child riding on hard surfaces, we sell a range of gloves and pads to help protect them.
3. Teach balance before pedalling
When teaching kids how to ride, a lot of parents focus on getting pedalling right from the start. However, the biggest challenge when it comes to safely learning to ride a bike is balancing.
A simple method for learning to balance on a bike:
- Let your child roll slowly down small hills or slopes.
- Keep their feet on the pedals to see how your child balances.
- Encourage them to look forward rather than down.
Once they get this part of it right, the pedalling process should happen naturally.
For children up to four years old, a balance bike may be a better starting point. Balance bikes don’t have any pedals, so children can simply push along with their feet and then glide on two wheels to practice balancing.
4. Use stabilisers for confidence
If your child is struggling to stay upright, a pair of bike stabilisers can do the hard work while letting them focus on building confidence.
Bike stabilisers allow children to focus on:
- Stee4ring.
- Pedalling rhythm.
- Basic control.
Bike stabilisers simply attach onto the hub of the rear wheel and support your child’s weight on each side, so there isn’t any need to balance. Remember that stabilisers do delay balance learning, so they’re a short-term solution that help children get over their anxieties about toppling over.
A set of bike stabilisers can be attached to pretty much any kids’ bike, providing support as they figure out steering, control and pedalling. You won’t need any additional tools and they can be adjusted depending on the size and shape of the bike.
5. Encourage them to look ahead
When learning how to ride a bike for the first time, children can struggle to keep their eyes firmly focused on the path ahead as they’re drawn towards the parent trying to teach them. When learning how to ride, ask your child to look at a certain object in front and use their ears to listen to any instructions you need to give. This will help them pick up the art of balancing a lot more quickly.
6. Keep practice sessions short
One of the most important elements to remember is to not overtire your child. Trying to master the art of learning to ride a kids’ bike isn’t always easy, so encourage them to do it for small periods of time, but on a frequent basis.
Ideal bike riding session for learners:
- 5-10 minutes.
- Several times a week.
According to Cycling Weekly, it roughly takes a child only around 45 minutes in total to learn to ride a bike. You should always help them finish on a high as well, by reminding them about all the great progress they made during that particular session.
7. Introduce extra help
Once your little one is whizzing around on their bike, it’s always worth thinking about a few extra lessons to keep them safe when they embark on their next two-wheeled adventure. Why not take a look to see if there are any cycling schemes for kids in your local area to help give them an extra boost?
8. Teach simple road awareness
If your child wants to learn so that they can ride to school, it’s a good idea to teach them some easy hand-signals and safe road-side behaviour. The most used road hand signs include:
- Extending your left arm sideways to signal left.
- Extending it right to signal your turning right.
- Extending either arm sideways and bending at the elbow towards the floor (with palm facing backwards) to warn that you’re stopping or slowing.
Other top road safety tips include:
- Remind them to look out for hazards including driveways and bends in the road.
- Only cycle on the pavement if it’s a designated cycle path.
- Always stop before red lights.
We would advise that you should always accompany your child when they’re cycling around cars or further hazards.
9. Learning to ride with gears
If your child is around the ages of 6-9, it’s probably a good time for them to familiarise themselves with bike gears. Using gears makes cycling a lot easier and helps to maintain a certain speed over different terrains and gradients.
- Lower gears are great for pedalling up steeper inclines.
- Higher gears support you on the ride back down.
Typically, kids’ bikes only use rear gears and are found on the right lever. Each audible click means that the chain has changed gears.
We would suggest that your little one should cycle on a flat surface and practice changing gears. Ask them if the bike feels different to ride, depending on which gear they’re using. Remember that they should only change gears when pedalling the bike!
Learning how to ride a bike is a life lesson we don’t forget. As adults, we may have mastered the complex skills needed to ride a bike, but for some kids, it can be a challenge that may take some time. Enjoy the process and take pride in teaching a child how to ride a bike because you’re passing on to the next generation.
If you want a little added extra for your little ones’ ride, check out all our kids’ bike accessories. We have lots of choice from water bottles to spokies to baskets and much more.
Remember, if you want the best kids’ bikes and accessories, you want Halfords!
