I went to a yard sale recently and bought a bag of wooden beads for 25 cents. I knew I had an unused set of 3 foot shoelaces at home that would be perfect for stringing the beads. An empty peanut butter jar became a storage container for the beads. So, for almost nothing I had a 78 bead lacing activity for my children. My, I was having a frugal day! 🙂
These are too small for my 1 1/2 year old, though. Definitely a choking hazard, so use caution with little ones.
My 4 year old loved stringing the beads and came up with several patterns. He first grouped them by color. He then took them off and strung them again by shape. I did not direct him as to how to string the beads, so it was exciting to see him come up with his own methods of sorting them. My almost 7 year old enjoyed this activity as well.
Large buttons could be an alternative to the wooden beads. Of course, you can always purchase new beads or even sets specifically for preschoolers. Whatever items you use I am sure your preschooler will enjoy this activity.
Using lacing beads encourages fine motor skills, visual discrimination, geometry, counting, and color recognition.
