If you go to any pediatric occupational therapy clinic you are guaranteed to see lacing cards! That is because lacing cards provide multiple therapeutic benefits for kids. Aliza has been watching me sew a ton and has been asking to help me. So I have modified her own lacing card to practice her “sewing” skills. Lacing cards are great and useful for kids to work on many skills. See how I made ours and what skills your little one can gain!

Materials for corn lacing card (LINKS):

Benefits of Lacing Cards for Kids

Fine motor skills– Using a lacing card helps develop a good pincer grasp. Using a pincer grasp aka “pad to pad” grip using index finger and thumb, is a fine motor skill used for many tasks. We use a pincer grasp to button, pick up small objects, tie shoes and so much more.
Bilateral coordination– This is the ability to use both hands to complete a task. For example, when using a lacing card the dominate hand has to control the tool in this case needle and the non dominate hand assists by holding the card. Both sides of the brain are working together to complete the task at hand.
Hand-Eye coordination– When using a lacing card the eyes see the information in front of them and control the hands to do the task.
Using Tools– Learning to use different tools is a great skill. In this activity, I modified the straw into a “needle” to help simplify the activity. It is more difficult to lace a loose string, verses a string that has a sturdy tip.
Life skills-Like I mentioned earlier Aliza wanted to help me sew. Using a lacing card mimics the same motions of sewing.

DIY Corn Lacing Card

There are a ton of lacing cards out there! Home made ones are very simple to make. You can make numbers, letters or themed lacing cards. We made ours a corn for thanksgiving! We used sturdy yellow and green foam paper and cut it into the shape of a corn. I glued the pieces together and let them dry completely! Once dry I punch holes all around it. You can make the holes close together or far apart, its up to you! Next cut out enough string that will go around the whole card. Tie a knot at one end and hot glue your 2 inches of straw to the other. To create my own needle, I hot glued the other end together. Once its dry cut the edges off to make a point. This will make it much easier for your toddler to get the string through the holes.

When you make your lacing card, allow your little one to help as it will work on their fine motor skills. If you do not have foam paper you can make lacing cards out of anything sturdy, for example:

Cereal Box
Cardboard
Plastic table mat
Binder
Plastic Dividers

Overall, lacing cards are extremely beneficial to work on skills as well as strengthening hand and wrist muscles. I would not know the importance of such a simple task if I was not a therapist. Engaging in an activity like this will open up a whole new range of movements for your little ones to master. If you make a lacing card or have made one in the past, I would love to see! Tag me on social media @cota_mom !

Thank you for stopping by! Don’t forget to make Thanksgiving an activity this year with your own buttoning turkey! Click the picture below to get yours today !

If you love COTA MOM CRAFTS, subscribe, comment and share <3