Can you see the concentration? Bean is very specific where she threads and Munchkin prefers to free-style.
Start with a piece of yarn cut to the length that you desire. Then cut a small, thin straw (we used two straws cut into four pieces each). If your straws have angled edges, make sure you snip off the angled edge, because it may be sharp. We cut the straw into roughly one inch pieces.
Then we fit the yarn through the straw and pulled it out the other end. We put a straw on both ends of the yarn so they could work with both sides.
Then we tied the yarn and double knotted it. Tug the knot tight and then slide it down to the end of the straw.
You can then maneuver the knot into the straw so that it does not stick out. Or you can leave the knot out, because it barely effects the lacing, you'll just want it near the end of the straw so that it doesn't become loosened or worn down.
Then let the lacing begin! There are various shapes and lengths of yarn - four shapes and four colours of yarn and each colour matches a shape. I cut the yarn to match the length it would need to be to completely stitch around the shape and have some extra in case they want to tie it off. They haven't figured this out yet and I let them pick what they want to work with. I have shown them a few different stitching techniques and so far they have figured out two of them. But they also like to stitch however they please, which is perfectly fine too. :)
Munchkin's -
Bean's -
I keep them stored in a big cardboard shoe box. The yarn fits nicely in a plastic container, which does have a lid but it is not in the picture. The kids even unlace the shapes when they are finished! This activity is fun and simple and easy to clean up.
You can also use shoelaces, thick thread and pipe cleaners. Pipe cleaners are difficult to use in this activity because they have wires in them and you have to bend them a lot to move on to the next hole. But the kids love pipe cleaners and that meant that they had to at least give it a try. :)
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