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Simple homemade lacing board

July 4, 2015 by Kate 5 Comments

This simple lacing board for kids is an easy homemade toy that will help develop a child's fine motor skills and more
I’m so excited to share with you my simple homemade lacing board for kids. It’s so easy to make you only need a few things that you’ll have around the house. When your child plays with this simple lacing board they will develop fine motor skills while building an understanding of basic sewing skills. 
This simple lacing board for kids is an easy homemade toy that will help develop a child's fine motor skills and more
This simple lacing board has been an idea sitting in my head for a long time. I’ve wanted to get around to making it ever since I made my homemade tugging box, which has been an incredibly popular.

I’m pleased to say that this homemade toy, which only requires two materials to make, turned out as fun and as fabulous as I pictured it would be. Possum (aged 3.5 years) couldn’t get enough of it. She loved it for the creative designs she could make and the relaxation it instilled in her while she used it. I hope you have a chance to make one.

Recommended age: 3 years +
(Active supervision is required on all my activities)

How to make a lacing board

It really is so very simple to make at home. Basically you’ll need a piece of cardboard, a pen to create the holes and something to thread through them. Ribbon, wool would all work quite well, however, I used some shoelaces because I like the hard plastic ends (known as an aglet) that would make threading easy. I also love that they came in a variety of colours, which adds to the creativity of this activity. Of course you could paint the cardboard, but we didnt worry and got straight to playing.
Sewing for beginners using a lacing board. Easy to make and a great homemade toy
It really didn’t take much to explain how to use the lacing board. As soon as I handed Possum the shoelaces she began weaving them through the many holes on the board. It was also interesting to see how she chose to thread the shoelaces. We didn’t need to tie one end to the board, Possum was extra careful to not pull the shoelace too far through, however, it might suit some children to secure one end before they begin lacing. 
This simple lacing board for kids is an easy homemade toy that will help develop a child's fine motor skills and more
Majority of the time she felt most comfortable threading down the hole, bringing the shoelace up from around the side of the board and back down another hole. It started to look much like a blanket stitch. 

The large size of the board was also great because it sat comfortably on Possum’s lap and it was easy enough for her to hold and move around. 

Simple lacing board helps build fine motor skills, concentration and hand/eye coordinationI’m telling you, we did this activity over and over again. Possum just loved it so much. It made me think how this type of activity was a lovely introduction to her learning to develop basic sewing skills. 

There are of course many other benefits to having your child do this simple activity. Whilst Possum was using her simple homemade lacing board she was absolutely captivated and had great concentration.  She came to realise that each time she threaded the shoelace through the hole she needed to pull its length completely or else she’d struggle to reach the next hole. It was a lovely way for her to learn through experimentation and trial and error. 
Simple lacing activity for kids using homemade boardT
here was so much great conversation that occurred during this activity. I found myself using lots of really great describing words, which Possum soon began adopting too. Much of what we were talking about were related to maths terms and described length. 

using shoe laces on this lacing board simply made at home

Like I said, this was an activity that we did over and over again and it was interesting to see how different it looked each time, even with only two colours. Even though this simply homemade lacing board helped to develop fine motor skills and concentration, it was also a very unique and creative way of learning. 

Would your child enjoy playing with their own lacing board? 

Don’t forget to check out these awesome ideas – 

tugging box for kids   DIY wrist band craft for kids   Craft making eye spy binoculars using toilet paper rolls

Great value ebooks featuring Laughing Kids Learn
Zero to Two: Book of Play    Three to Five Playful Preschool ad



Filed Under: 3 - 5 years, activities for children, activities for preschoolers, activities for toddlers, Fine Motor Tagged With: 2 materials, colours, concentration, creativity, design, experimentation, fine motor, hand/eye coordination, homemade, preschooler, toddlers, trial error, weaving

Comments

  1. Neha Ahmed says

    July 11, 2015 at 6:49 am

    You are such an amazing mum, I can say that with a lot of respect because you give Possum so much time and I really like it how you get her in such activities that help for the future

    Bye the way what’s possums real name because possum is just a nickname I guess

    Reply
    • Kate says

      July 11, 2015 at 10:14 pm

      You are so lovely Neha. Thank you!

      I actually choose not to share Possum’s real name on the blog so lets just keep it at Possum. 😉

      Hope you have a great day.

      Reply

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Welcome
Hello and welcome!
My name is Kate and I am a mum to two little girls, Possum and Boo. We have lots of fun together learning with play at home and are pleased to share some of what we do with you.
Read my about page to find out more.

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