Nursery World - Physical Development: Wheely good?

Whether or not to use bikes at early years settings is the subject of some debate, finds Caroline Vollans

Bikes and trikes are usually popular with children, but this can have downsides as well as upsides - Isabelle Johnson/London Early Years Foundation

One afternoon, I arrived at nurseryto find my three-year-old daughter cycling to her heart's content. Not on a trike, but a bike. She had never mentioned it. Neither did she see what the fuss was about when I praised her. For her it was just what she did at nursery.

Twenty years later, cycling has become de rigueur. It came as a surprise to me, then, to learn that not all early years settings are fans of having bikes. In fact, some have got rid of them altogether.

DIFFERENCES OF OPINION

Wanting to find out more, I used Twitter to create a mini poll about having bikes in early years settings. I found the responses seemed to be organised into three main camps:

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