My mom taught Anna to tie her own shoes when she was five!! I was amazed that after a few minutes of instruction and then some practice, Anna had it down within the hour. Maybe she was just ready or maybe my mom is a genius!
I have been working with Chris and Lydia some. We all kind of get frustrated, I end up tying their shoes and then we go on our way until the next time I think it's a good idea that they learn to tie their shoes....
like when I'm trying to get out the door and have kiddos begging for me to tie their shoes for them, again :)
This week I got out the pipe cleaners for Nate to do this during some instruction time...
it had his full attention for 20 + minutes!
But I got some inspiration;) What if....
I used pipe cleaners in some shoes to help Chris and Lydia practice without having the laces flopping everywhere?
So I twisted two pipe cleaners together, stuck them through the top lace hole and we started to practice...
and NOT while we were all waiting at the door! Although there was still some not so excited students:)
The best thing is that they can practice the steps... learn what to do without the issue with the floppy laces!
And one student, after practicing with the pipe cleaners, went straight into practicing on her own shoes;)
She still needed a little help, but had the steps down! Just a little more practice and there will be one less pair of laces for me to tie as we head out the door!
BTW... there are cool little lace keeper things that help the kids get on their "tie" shoes. And usually I try to purchase Velcro, but somehow right now we have mostly tie shoes... looking forward to sandal weather! LOL!!
Maybe we'll have this tying thing down by then:) If not, I'm calling in Grammie;)
I have been working with Chris and Lydia some. We all kind of get frustrated, I end up tying their shoes and then we go on our way until the next time I think it's a good idea that they learn to tie their shoes....
like when I'm trying to get out the door and have kiddos begging for me to tie their shoes for them, again :)
This week I got out the pipe cleaners for Nate to do this during some instruction time...
it had his full attention for 20 + minutes!
But I got some inspiration;) What if....
I used pipe cleaners in some shoes to help Chris and Lydia practice without having the laces flopping everywhere?
So I twisted two pipe cleaners together, stuck them through the top lace hole and we started to practice...
and NOT while we were all waiting at the door! Although there was still some not so excited students:)
The best thing is that they can practice the steps... learn what to do without the issue with the floppy laces!
And one student, after practicing with the pipe cleaners, went straight into practicing on her own shoes;)
She still needed a little help, but had the steps down! Just a little more practice and there will be one less pair of laces for me to tie as we head out the door!
BTW... there are cool little lace keeper things that help the kids get on their "tie" shoes. And usually I try to purchase Velcro, but somehow right now we have mostly tie shoes... looking forward to sandal weather! LOL!!
Maybe we'll have this tying thing down by then:) If not, I'm calling in Grammie;)
1 comment:
You are a genius! My nearly-8 yr old still can't tie his shoes--will try your trick and report back. Thanks!
Post a Comment