When toddlers first start to walk they tend to fall often. In fact Karen Adolph has measured how many times toddlers fall in the course of an hour.

But with several months of practice as their balance improves and they learn to look where they are going and to adapt the direction and speed of walking to suite the environment, they fall less frequently. Their balance and leg muscle strength also improve with experience which helps to correct for stumbles and sudden stopping or turning. 

By the age of  3-4  years typically developing children have learned to: 

• Look ahead to check whether there are obstacles in their path and make decisions about whether to step over and obstacle or walk around it. 
• Plan their path so that they do not bump into furniture or doorways
• Assess the surface or terrain ahead and adjust the speed of their walking: is it even or uneven, is it slippery, does it slope up or down.
• Walk and stop or change direction suddenly keeping their balance. 

Try the following activities

Walking through a gap

Position two dining or kitchen chairs back to back and about  20 cm apart. let your child stand facing the chairs at a distance  tqo to 3 meters. 
Instruct your child to walk straight ahead between the chairs. 

Typically a young child will walk up to the chairs and then take a little time to figure out that they need to turn sideways on to move forwards between the chairs. 

Let the child repeat the activity several times and notice how quickly they learn to adjust the position of their body relative to the chairs before they reach the chairs so that they can move forwards without stopping. 

Walking and carrying an object

Walking while carrying an object often requires adjustments in walking speed. 

Carrying a large object or box

Large objects may block the child's line of site. The object needs to be moved to the side and the trunk tipped to one side to allow the child to look past the object. This makes balance more difficult.

Walking carrying tumbler full of water on a tray
Place a tumbler full of water on a small tray and instruct your child to pick the tray up and walk across the room. 
The tricky bit is holding the trunk, hands and tray steady while moving the legs forwards. This requires lots of attention and slowing down the walking pace.  

Potato and spoon walking 
This is another activity that requires a steady hand while walking and requires attention and slowing down the pace of walking. 
Let you child hold a wooden or other large spoon horizontally and rest a potato on the bowl of the spoon.
Instruct the child to walk forwards without dropping the potato. 
You can make the task more tricky by placing some obstacles in the way that need to be stepped over. 

Walking and stepping over obstacles 
Place a few low obstacles in line with each other and about 40 cm apart.  Brooms, soft toys positioned end-to-end,  a few flattish plasric containes in a row all make good obstacles. 
Let your child stand facing the line of obstacles at a distance of about 50cm. Instruct them to walk forwards stepping over each obstacle.

Younger children will walk until they reach the obstacle and then step over it. With practice children learn to adjust their steps so that they place one foot just ahead of the obstacles and lift the other leg over without stopping.