Teaching your child how to tie her shoes can seem challenging but it is necessary not only for her personal sense of independence and achievement, because according to the website Babycenter, self care is part of her developmental milestone, but also for safety, as running around with untied shoe laces can make her fall and hurt herself. The key point is to make it a fun task so that your child remains interested and engaged long enough for her to practice and learn.
Step 1
Buy laces in two different colors so that it is easier for your child to tell them apart when he's trying to figure out which one goes over and under. You can buy many colors that he can change depending on what he is wearing or two colors that are almost the same if he wants them blend together, such as navy blue and black. This will also permit you to label one color as right and the other as left to make it easier for him to follow your instructions.
Step 2
Come up with stories that relate to the way laces are tied. One example is saying that the laces are like rabbit ears when they are tied and your child can help you turn them into rabbit ears when they are untied.
Step 3
Have your child make a knot that will represent the head of the rabbit. To do so, assign colors to the shoelaces, for example left is blue and right is red. Cross the left or blue lace over the right or red lace. The blue lace will now be on the right side.
Step 4
Wrap the blue lace around the front of the red lace to end up at the back of the gap between the laces.
Step 5
Feed the blue lace through the gap to emerge at the front right hand side and pull both ends to complete the knot.
Step 6
Loop each laces to create the ears of the rabbit and make a knot following the same steps, but this time keeping the laces looped. If this story does not engage your child long enough, try other stories, many of which are available online on websites such as A to Z Kids Stuff.
Step 7
Have your child practice on his toys. This will give time to understand the process on his own time, when it is not urgent for him to finish so he can walk or run.
Tips and Warnings
- Resist the temptation of buying shoes without laces to avoid teaching your child how to tie them. It is a necessary skill that is best learned at an early age and once learned she will never forget it. If you are in a hurry, tie your child's shoes yourself to avoid pressuring him during his learning process, which may make him feel overwhelmed.
Things You'll Need
- Different color shoe laces
- Toys with shoes that have shoe laces
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