Are you looking for a new way to tie shoes for your child? Today we are showing you a fresh tying technique that will teach this fine motor skill with this easy lace tying strategy. This helpful advice was recommended by an occupational therapist so don’t miss this tutorial!
I am so darn excited about today’s post and getting to share with you the lace tying strategy that helped me succeed at teaching my children how to tie their shoes. This is, honestly, the best shoe-tying tutorial I could ever showcase and it comes to my site courtesy of my amazing friend, Nancy!
When my son was in first grade he was still struggling to tie his shoes. The fact that we put the kid in Velcro shoes his entire life may have been a big factor in why he struggled so much.
When I shared this with my friend she showed me a new way to teach shoelace tying to see if it would work for our son.
Lo and behold, a mere five minutes later my son was tying his shoe like a pro.
If you haven’t heard of this method before, you aren’t alone.
It is called the Cheerio Method, because it really focuses on creating a circle with your laces (that looks like…well..a Cheerio) and allows a space for your child to feed their bunny ears into it. The sizing of that delicious cereal is exactly the size of a circle you need to create space for feeding laces.
I don’t know about you, but I really struggled with this skill, when I was a child, and remember sitting for hours, with a shoe-lacing board. It took me forever to figure out the granny knot and I still remember singing those silly songs to myself about looping those bunny ears.
My daughter is three years younger than her brother and when we taught Ethan, she wanted to learn right along side of him. As luck would have it, she caught on just as fast as her brother and it is how she is tying her shoes still today.
You have to see this tutorial to learn how to tie shoes. While it begins with the same shoelace knot, that we are all familiar with, it evolves into an entirely different method to lace shoes.
If you are struggling with teaching your children to tie their own shoelaces, this is a parenting game changer. I can’t wait to hear about your own success stories with this tutorial.
An enormous thank you to Nancy for so generously sharing her cheerio method video with my readers!
Note About the First Loop
The first time you teach them, you can show them with your own finger how to create that first loop. After that, it shows them how much space they need to create it and they can do it on their own.
For double knotting the laces, just show them as you normally would, making sure to stress to pull those loops tight (but not *too* tight).
If you have a child still in those early stages of practicing, I have found one of these handy shoe-tying practice boards (affiliate link) is helpful for teaching kids how to tie.
What if this technique doesn’t work for my child. Do you have any other recommendations to teach my child to tie shoes?
Have you ever heard of the Ian Knot? I had never heard of this technique until I started researching other resources for you. Watch this incredible video (below) of the fastest shoe tying technique.
I’m an adult and don’t be surprised if you find me curled up with my shoes teaching myself this.
Who says an old dog can’t learn new tricks?
Let us know what you think about today’s post and if it has helped your child as much as it helped my two!
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