5 Classic Ways to Teach Kids to Tie Their Shoes
We’re too old to remember a time when we couldn’t tie our own shoelaces, unless we include that New Year’s Eve party a couple of months ago. In which case, we’re not sure any of these next techniques would have sunken into our inebriated heads anyway. For the record, and to refresh some cobweb-covered memories, we’ll share 5 classic ways to teach kids how to tie their shoes:
- The Bunny Ear Method – Teaching the child that the bunny first needs a head, they will make an ‘X’ out of the laces and tie the first knot. Then, show the child how to loop the loose ends, making the bunny ears, then tie them together. This, you inform the child, will make the bunny’s ears tight, so they won’t fall off.
- The Squirrel and the Tree Method – This technique will teach your child to tie a shoelace knot using the single loop method. Start off the tree by tying some “roots”, which will of course be the basic ‘X’ knot as above. Have them hold a loop of lace in one hand, which will be the tree. Now then, you say, ‘a squirrel runs around the tree, and into the hole below’. Have the child wrap the other lace end around the ‘tree’ and into the ‘hole’ below to form the knot.
- The Indian and the Teepee – This shoe-tying teaching aid makes use of a poem to go along with the visual. An Indian who is building a teepee is used to help the kid visualize how to tie the knot:
- Build a tee pee
- Come inside
- Close it tight so we can hide
- Over the mountain
- And around we go
- Here’s my arrow
- And here’s my bow!
- A Really Big Shoe – If your child is having trouble mastering her shoe-tying skills, it sometimes helps to provide a bigger-than-life model to work with. You can cut out a big shoe from cardboard, and let your child decorate it. Punch lace holes in the cutout and let her lace it.
- Different Color Laces – As a way of helping your kid differentiate between left and right when teaching him to tie a shoe, you can use two different color laces. Now, instead of having to say, “take the right lace and tuck it under the loop”, you can tell him to use the red one instead.