Bl (15 months) was wandering around the house “wearing” the laces from a lacing game I bought for Br (3 1/2) at a yard sale last week. Our youngest does like his necklaces…
This reminded me of an lacing activity for toddlers I had seen *somewhere* in the blogosphere ( I can’t seem to remember where- if you recognize the idea, please let me know so I can credit them!), so I decided to try it today with Bl. Luckily, it was super quick & easy!
Materials:
-paper towel and/or toilet paper rolls
-ribbon (about 2-3 feet)
-index card
-pipe cleaner
-scissors
Use your scissors to punch a hole in the middle of the index card
Thread the ribbon through the hole and tie a knot in the end large enough to keep the ribbon from coming back through the hole.
Tie the other end of the ribbon around the middle of the pipe cleaner
Fold the pipe cleaner in half and wind the halve together to make your “needle”
Voice of Experience: make sure you trim the ribbon tied to the pipe cleaner short, so it doesn’t interfere with the lacing
Cut the paper towel/ toilet paper rolls into ~1-2 inch wide pieces
While I was distracted by my gigantic red scissors (see note above), Bl figured out he could shove things under his table topper.
I modeled to Bl how to slip the pieces of roll on to the “needle” and then thread them down the ribbon. He was definitely very interested. It seemed to still be on the edge of his developmental ability (especially the part where he would need to switch hands to allow the roll to go down the ribbon after getting it on the “needle”). I ended up holding the needle for him a lot of the time, and helping thread the peices down. He did take a few turns on his own as well, but he kept wanting to thread back through pieces already on the ribbon and getting tangled up. It held his attention for at least a few minutes though ( which is ETERNITY for a 15 mo old)!
I hadn’t put this away yet, so I trimmed the index card into a nicer shape while sitting at the table in the lull between finishing dinner and the mad rush to get everyone to bed before half past bedtime.
And here it is all set up on the shelf in case Bl wants to try it again tomorrow while Mommy is at work!
For you high rent types, here is a similar idea using cut up pool “noodles”, from The Activity Mom.
