Printable Lacing Cards for Kids
I am pretty certain, I don’t have to sing the praise of lacing card activities for kids to you – especially Montesorri teachers will know the value of working with lacing cards for the preschoolers and kindergarten. For us, lacing cards were a brilliant introduction into the very basics of sewing with kids, as well as helping with those fine motor skills.
You can use these lacing cards for homeschool or in the classroom environment. Though generally, I prefer working in smaller groups for these kind of lacing activities.
As with many of my “collections”, I plan to add more resources over time, so please do come back and see what the latest free printable downloads I have to share or leave me a comment/ send me an email with any specific requests and I can see what I can do!
Why lacing cards?
Firstly they are fun – ok for some children they are fun. Personally, I have very early childhood memories of LOVING lacing cards. It was one of a favorite activity in preschool. I think I love the order and colours… and the pretty “results”. Of course they are “obvious” fine motor activities for kids, but from an educational point of view, lacing cards help with many developmental aspects:
- Fine Motor practice/ skills,
- Visual Motor,
- Hand Eye Coordination,
- Bilateral Coordination,
- Grasping Skills
- Introducing sewing skills
By choosing different subject lacing cards is also a fantastic way for you to add additional educational opportunities – e.g.:
- Maths shapes
- Colors
- Animals
- anything else really – space, leaves, vehicles, clothing etc
DIY Lacing Cards Supplies
When working with printable lacing cards at home, you have a two ways you can use them. Either use a laminator to cover the lacing cards to use over and over again. Laminating is great for durability, especially if you plan to repeat this activity with different student groups (and they don’t get to take them home). Or, a more eco friendly and cheaper version – would be glue your printables onto cardboard (e.g. a cereal box is a great thickness) and work with that as a lacing card basis. So you will need:
- A laminator or recycled cardstock (or any card stock you have to hand)
- Printable lacing cards download and printer/ printer paper
- Scissors & glue stick (if using cardstock)
- Coloring pencils or pens (if using coloring page printables)
- A hole puncher or needle to pre-hole the lacing holes
- Plastic yarn needle and a piece of yarn ot thread for kids to use – you could also use a shoelace or ribbon or any lacing string you can find, if working with hole punch holes.
How to make your own lacing cards:
Making your own lacing cards is easy – whether using card stock or a laminating sheet!
- Print out your lacing card printables, if relevant get your toddlers or preschoolers to color them in
- Either laminate them or stick onto card stock
- Cut out the rough shape (again, an older child can practice cutting skills)
- Use a hole puncher or sharp needle/ pin (adults only) to pre punch the lacing holes
- Now your DIY lacing cards are ready for the children to use
Printable Lacing Cards
Here is a set of printable lacing cards for you to explore!
Easter Lacing Cards exploring Shapes
First up I would like to share our Easter Lacing Cards or Spring Lacing Cards.. that aren’t just “cute designs” (but they really are cute!), but they also are a great way to explore shaeps and primary colors with your preschool charges. We have circles (the flower), rectangles and squares (the bunny) and of course the basic “egg shape”. As these FREE Lacing Cards come in black and white for colouring, as well as full colour, you have the option to explore primary colours and secondary colours too! A perfect March or April lacing activity as we head into spring and Easter draws nearer.
St Patrick’s Day Lacing Cards
Or how about our cute designs turned into St Patrick’s Day Lacing Cards for Preschoolers? A wonderful fine motor skills activities for toddlers and preschool children. There is one you can currently download for free here, Hopefully, I will be able to provide ALL of these as a freebie very soon (I often do a week of freebies for Red Ted Art readers – so be sure to sign up to my newsletter so as to not to miss out! Orange sign up box on the right hand side of this post!).
Christmas Lacing Cards exploring shapes
Similarly we have some wonderful printable lacing cards for Christmas too these make great holiday fine motor centers. Again, not only are they super cute, but you can explore basic shapes too – circles, squares and triangles. A choice of full coloring lacing card printables or color your own printables available. Again, these are free printable lacing cards.
Printable Dinosaur Lacing Cards
From ABC to ACTs has some lovely printable dinosaur lacing cards for your dinosaur mad toddler or preschooler. There are three super cute designs to choose from!
Space Lacing Cards
Living Live & Learning How fun are these happy planet lacing cards. If you combine them with recycled cereal boxes (instead of laminating) and use some cotton yarns, these would make a fantastic Earth Day project for preschoolers too!
More out of space lacing cards, including rockets & astronauts
Head over to Taming Little Monsters for MORE out of space lacing cards. I love the astronaut and rocket designs!
Fun Vegetable Lacing Cards
I did say lacing cards could have ANY motif, didn’t I? How about some fun colorful Vegetable Lacing Cards? Again by Taming Little Monsters. This would be great as part of any lessons about food and classifications too.
Forest Animal Lacing Cards
Homeschool Preschool has some adorable Forest Friends Lacing Cards! These are so cute. Choose from Owl, Bear or Hedgehog and practice your reading skills too!
More sewing resources
Lacing cards really are the a wonderful “frontrunner” to actual sewing! If you child really enjoyed the lacing cards, you may consider giving “real” sewing a go. You can start them young!
