How to Teach a Child to Tie Laces

The start of kindergarten is usually a great time to teach your child to tie laces on shoes or skates. By this age, your child has mastered the necessary fine muscle control. Follow these steps to teach your child to tie laces without tying yourself in knots.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Place the shoe or skate boot in front of your child as if he were going to put it on. Don't have your child put his foot in the shoe or boot.

2. Lay each lace along the side of the shoe or boot. Have your child pick up a lace in each hand, and tell her to cross the right lace over the left lace to form an "X."

3. Instruct your child to use his right hand to loop the lace that's now on the right over and through the top of the "X." Then have him hold each lace and pull tight.

4. Show your child how to form a loop, resembling a rabbit ear, with each lace. Have her cross the loops over each other to make a bow-tie shape.

5. Guide your child to hold the loops together with her left hand, and thread the right loop over and through the circle below the bow-tie shape. Then have her use both hands to pull both loops away from each other to tighten the knot.

6. Practice tying laces with your child until he can do it himself. Then have him practice tying knots while wearing the shoes or skates.

Tips & Warnings

• If your child has trouble telling her left hand from her right, have her wear a different colored string or piece of yarn on each wrist to serve as a reminder while practicing how to tie laces.

[tracysmith159]

on 5/22/2009 Great way to teach your child to tie laces. I really hated teaching this part. For my youngest I gave up until a teacher at school made him tie his own laces. She told him the step you have listed above and it worked.