Krataeh Wian — a Bamboo Tube Turning on a Stake Helps a Child Learn to Walk

"When the tube is slipped onto the stake it must be just stiff enough: not too loose, because the child would fall easily, and not too tight, because the child could not turn and walk." (Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, author ธันวดี สุขประเสริฐ (Thanwadi Sukprasoet), CC BY 4.0)

Cut a bamboo tube about two internodes long, or about 45 cm, about 6-7 cm across. Cut the node out of the lower internode, and drill a hole in the upper internode for the arm. Sand the edges smooth, with no splinters.

Cut a small bamboo about 45 cm long and about 1.5-2 cm across. Push it through the hole square to the tube and round off its ends.

Use a hardwood or bamboo stake about 75 cm long, driven firmly into the ground, then slip the tube onto the stake so that it is just stiff enough: it turns, but is not loose.

Real photos of a กระแตเวียน (krataeh wian) (Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, author ธันวดี สุขประเสริฐ (Thanwadi Sukprasoet), CC BY 4.0)

Let the child hold the arm and walk in a circle round the stake. An adult must watch closely the whole time.

Other names: mai mun, i doi; local name: bok wian. In the past villagers set the krataeh wian under the raised house or in the yard. Today some families use PVC pipe instead of bamboo, or set the stake in a cast-cement bucket with a hole in the middle, so it can be moved into the shade. Source: Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, database of traditional everyday objects, "กระแตเวียน", author ธันวดี สุขประเสริฐ (licence CC BY 4.0), citing วิบูลย์ ลี้สุวรรณ (Wibun Lisuwan) (2546 BE) and สนม ครุฑเมือง (Sanom Khrutmueang) (2534 BE). **Limits.** All sizes are approximate, as in the source; adjust them to the child's height.