If your kids are learning how to tie their shoelaces, a homemade shoe tying practice board is a a great way for them to practice any time they want without having to actually put their shoes on.
Do you remember how old you were when you learned to tie your shoes? I was in kindergarten. We had to learn young because velcro shoes weren’t even a thing back then.
Kids are a little older learning how to tie their shoes these days, but it can still be tricky because tying a bow requires a good amount of fine-motor co-ordination and dexterity.
Enter our DIY Shoe Tying Practice Board. It’s like a cardboard lacing card, and it’s laced with real shoelaces so kids can practice tying a bow anywhere, any time – in the car, the playroom, in their bed during quiet time etc. Heck, they can even practice tying their laces at the kitchen table because there’s no dirty old shoe involved.
To make the activity extra personal, your child will make his or her shoe-lacing card by tracing their foot or their own running shoe. And they can decorate it however they want.
You might even let your child pick out some special laces for their cardboard shoe, and when they master the activity, they can transfer the laces to their real shoes.
Of course, you don’t actually need real shoe laces, you can just lace your cardboard shoe with some chunky yarn if you’d rather.
With patience, determination and a little practice, your child will be tying his or her own shoes in no time at all.
To see how we made our cardboard shoe for this activity, and for tips on teaching kids how to tie their shoes, pop over to CBC Parents.
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Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She specializes in kids’ crafts and activities, easy recipes, and parenting. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.
Fyre
You should include some non-standard lacing patterns in the pictures, or maybe a link to a site with how to adjust lacing patterns to fit different feet. It was just last year that I learned there were other ways to lace shoes, that really help make shoes fit better or more comfortably for odd-sized feet! (Mine are super wide and tall, and my son’s are tall and super skinny; there are different patterns for each of us to help with shoe comfort and security…)
Linda Newman
I used a “shoelace box” with my kids. First I read” The Shoelace Box ” (Little Golden Readers) by Elizabeth Winthrop.
Then I took a shoe box from children’s shoes (it’s smaller), cut the holes, and threaded a shoelace through. It works really well and they can hold it between their legs to keep it steady while they are learning.
Jackie Currie
I may have to make one of those next, Linda!