When practicing shoe tying, it is best to have the shoe sitting in front of the child either on the floor or the table. I don’t always have a shoe with me (I have been known to take my own shoe off to use for practice), so I made a shoe printable and attached it to a small box that can sit in front of the child who is practicing.
I also use different types of laces to practice, so I printed out several of the little shoes, laminated them, punched out the holes for the laces, and put Velcro on the back so that I could Velcro the different ones to the box top, depending on which one I wanted to use with that particular child.
I have one with two different color of laces, one with wire ribbon, and two plain white ones with dots on them to help the kids know where to hold the laces. The little box is the perfect size to store the different shoes in.
Next week I have a post with techniques to use when practicing tying shoes.
Materials:
- Shoe laces
- Shoe template
- Cardboard box
Skills:
- Fine motor
- visual perception
- bimanual
- visual motor
Interested in winning the two colored laces in my pictures? They are by Tying Is a Snap, and I am giving away a set of them. Enter to win.
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As an occupational therapist, I think this customized lacing board is a great way to simplify the complex process of tying shoes, since it will be easier to see where each lace go given that each has distinguishing colors. If I win any of these, this will be a great help for my students. :)
What a great idea! I really like the idea of printing out multiple shows so kids can practice together!
Hi, I love this idea. I have tried teaching my Williams Syndrome son to tie shoes for a very long time. He is 35 years old. I think I am going to give this a try. Can’t hurt. I want him to be just a bit more independent.
My 7 year needs all the help he can get with this skill. Do you have any scripts for talking him through it? He does best with precise repetition, and I haven’t been able to get that down yet.
Love this idea!! These laces are so cool too! I was looking at them online the other day!
Another great idea. Thanks so much for the chance to win.
Such a cool idea, I hope I win a pair.
This is a cool idea, I hope I win a pair
I need to teach my son to tie his shoes as he will be entering kindergarten in the fall. These laces would really help. Thank you!
What a great way to teach my grand daughters how to tie their shoes.
Tying shoe laces is one thing we haven’t learned. We’re going to give it a shot! Thanks for the printable resources!
I have been doing this for a while, but what I do is take the laces that are tied together on the bottom, and slip it over a narrow pencil box, or stapler, or any other object I can find (or have with me). I travel between schools and this way I am only carrying a laminated paper with the 2 laces instead of another box of something. I can even slip it into a small pouch so I can use it with students in their regular ed classrooms, fairly unobtrusively.