Steering a Three-Wheeled Scooter

The three-wheeled scooter looks much like a reversed tricycle, with two wheels in the front and one in the back. This provides more stability for younger children, making it a breeze for even toddlers to learn how to ride along. However, there is one problem that you and your child might find yourselves facing: figuring out how to steer it!

With young children in mind during the design phase, we came up with a new way of steering a scooter that would be easier for young children, particularly toddlers and pre-schoolers to master. Instead of turning the handlebars to steer, like a traditional two-wheeled scooter, your child only needs to lean in the direction they want to go. The method is similar to surfing, snowboarding, or skateboarding, and is less complex than steering with the handlebars.

It may take time for your child to get used to this method, because our instinct is to remain upright and balanced. With three wheels, though, these scooters have more stability and your child will learn quickly that leaning to steer is as easy as (or easier than) riding a bike!

You can help your child learn to steer!

Encourage your child to stand on the scooter, which won’t tip over thanks to the increased stability from the three wheels. Once they are comfortable standing on the platform, show them how to turn the wheels by gently pushing the handlebars from side to side, as they would move if your child was leaning on them.

After your child has practiced this leaning motion with two hands on the handlebars for a while, they will feel confident enough to start moving. They may want to try you pulling them first, and that’s okay! Many kids take a while to get used to this style of scooting, but they will master it eventually. If you want to pull your child along, you can use a product like a ScooTow, or you could just pull on the vertical part of the handlebars. That way, you won’t interfere with their leaning and steering.

Once your child gets used to the steering method and the motion, they will want to start kicking off for themselves. They will soon realize that scooting around is incredibly fun, and off they’ll go!