How to Make Trainer Chopsticks

Use trainer chopsticks to help master the real thing.

Teaching younger children to use chopsticks can be a challenge if they're not used to them. Trainer chopsticks are joined at the base end making them easier to use. Your child can use them to eat Asian dishes with the rest of the family and get some practice in before they graduate to the real thing. You can buy trainer chopsticks, but it's so cheap and easy to convert a regular pair. You can even use the disposable chopsticks found in some restaurants.

Things You'll Need

• Chopsticks
• Paper
• Rubber band

Instructions

1. Pull apart the two chopsticks if they are the attached, disposable kind.

2. Bind the chopsticks together tightly with a rubber band, about 1/2-inch from the base end of the chopsticks. This is the end you hold them with, not the eating end.

3. Tear a small strip of paper, about half the length and twice the width of the chopsticks.

4. Fold the strip of paper into a small bundle.

5. Wedge the paper bundle in between the sticks, just below the rubber band to act as a pivot point.

6. Test the chopsticks for ease of use. Your child should be able to squeeze the eating ends together with a little pressure.

Tips & Warnings

• If your chopsticks come in a paper wrapping, use the wrapping as your strip of paper.

• Loosen the rubber band or make your paper strip a little smaller if the trainer chopsticks are too tight. Tighten the rubber band if the trainer chopsticks are too loose. Wrap the rubber band around the paper if it keeps coming loose.

References

• Lunch in a Box; Make Your Own Learning Chopsticks; 2008
• Ohdeedoh; DIY Training Chopsticks; Janie Lee; 2010