Not only are lacing cards great for your preschooler’s hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and concentration, but they are also a great way to buy yourself a little bit of quiet time! Here is a quick and simple way to make your own lacing cards utilizing your child’s artwork.
Supplies Needed:
- Coloring book pages or some of your child’s freehand artwork
- Card Stock
- Glue stick
- Self-laminating sheets
- Single hole punch
- Shoelaces (or yarn/ribbon with tape around the ends)
You can find most of these supplies at your local dollar store! For laminating sheets, check your local craft store or office supply store or you can order online here.
How To Put The Lacing Cards Together:
- Glue drawings that your child has done or shapes/characters they have colored from a coloring book to card stock and cut the picture out. For example, if they colored a mermaid, you would cut around the mermaid.
- Laminate your cutouts.
- Cut off excess laminating paper.
- Using your hole punch, punch holes around the edge of your laminated cutout. Tip: Make some lacing cards with holes that are closer together and some with them spaced out to give your child some variety.
- Time to try them out! Show your child how to lace shoelaces or ribbon around the edge or make patterns by lacing back and forth across the top of their artwork.
Here are some other custom lacing card ideas:
- Cut out images from magazines or old children’s books
- Print out (or freehand) the letters of the alphabet and cut out
- Use photos of friends or family members
- For a quick and super easy version: let your child decorate a paper plate and punch their own holes around the edge for a simple circle lacing card!
For another fun DIY craft, check out DIY Sidewalk Chalk Paint in MAKE.
Photo Credit: Dreams To Do
