Early Learning: How To Tie A Shoe

A Fun Way to Learn How To Tie A Shoe

Is your child at that stage where they are learning to lace but still haven’t mastered tying?  Lacing and tying are excellent activities for children to develop fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.  This early learning shoe activity will help encourage them in these new skills and they will have so much fun in the process.

First, you need a piece of thin cardboard.  I used a cereal box and I made my shoe template on it.  Since it’s three dimensional, make sure to draw your shoe on both sides as shown above in picture #1.

Next, punch holes in the cardboard and add reinforcements stickers around the holes.  This will strengthen the holes and keep them from getting torn after the first couple of times of being used.

Then, they are ready to paint their shoe how ever they wish.

Lastly, add the shoe laces or colorful ribbons.  My number 3, in the picture above has the laces just to give you a visual but I wouldn’t lace it until it’s painted and dried.

The Quirky Mommas love fun hands-on activities like this to encourage early learning and development of fine motor skills.  Here are a few other fun ideas to keep you little child’s hands moving and learning while they have fun:

• Preschool Skills: Lacing Cards – Lacing cards are also a great educational and developmental toy for preschoolers as they work on their pincer grip, hand-eye coordination, and patience.
• Polly Pocket Bracelets – This was a perfect early threading activity for a child learning to use needle and thread.
• Recycled Art: Cup Holder Sculpture – This simple activity encourages your child to use small motor skills and analyze color choices. And it makes for a a really fun abstract sculpture.