Crafts
Fine MotorToddlersPreschoolers15 Comments
I don’t think is can get much more basic than threading with straws, can it?
That’s what I’m all about lately. Getting back to the basics. The simple activities. That are easy to whip up and stuff I have (and you probably do too).
What’s awesome about this is that you can use dry pasta noodles instead if you don’t have straws.
Anyhow. I had some of these shoelaces from a threading toy we have (Melissa & Doug Lace and Trace Farm – affiliate link). Otherwise regular old shoelaces would work too (though I did find that round shoelaces worked better than the flat ones). Yarn would work too, you just may need to add something to the knot at the end to make sure the straws don’t slide off.
I let Henry do the cutting. He snipped straws into pieces, big and little.
Meanwhile, I knotted one end of the shoestrings.
And that’s all there is to the setup!
Thread away!
I kept thinking the bigger pieces would make it so much easier to thread.
And take less time to thread, as well.
But they’re actually much harder to push the shoestring through!
(I guess I get to learn sometimes too!)
Once the shoestring is full, or as full as your child would like, tie it off in a knot.
And yes, boys can wear necklaces!
I didn’t leave George out of this activity either.
He joined us, though he didn’t have nearly as much success as Henry. But that’s expected.
He put a couple of the pieces of straw on the shoestring by himself, but he struggled. I helped him along by holding the shoestring up so that he could slide the straw on easier.
He did it over and over and never realized where they were going.
Once he did, he got a kick out of it and slid them off way faster than they went on.
Okay, there’s not even a comparison, he swiped them all off in one single swipe and thought it was just hilarious!
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Julia says
It’s cool. Thanks for the great post and interesting ideas.
Jacqueline Frost says
Thanks so much for sharing this!! My son Max and I will try out some of the fine motor skill activities tomorrow:)
Jamie Reimer says
I’d love to see pictures if you do it! You can share it on my FB page: http://www.facebook.com/handsonaswegrow
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Carolyn says
Sometimes the basics are the best. Thanks for a good reminder for a fun activity. We also try using both straw and pasta to make patterns on the shoestring. Definitely a good rainy day activity.