Lacing activities are a wonderful and simple way to strengthen fine motor skills! Manipulating the string in and out of holes encourages various grasping patterns and hand-eye coordination.
So just why are fine motor skills important? The stronger the fine motor muscles in your child's wrist, fingers, and hand, the easier writing will be!
So work on those fine motor skills.... along with the ABC's with this Alphabet Apple Lacing Activity!
ABC Apple Activity
To make your own ABC Apple Lacing Activity you'll need:
- red paper plate
- scissors
- hole punch
- sharpie
- construction paper
- ribbon
- glue
Begin by cutting out the middle of the red paper plate. This part is optional, but I love seeing the ribbon criss-cross across the apple.
Next hole punch 26 holes around the paper plate- not too far apart, but not too close. It may take a few paper plates to figure out how close you need the holes to go all around (speaking from experience here!). Then, write a letter of the alphabet at each hole in either alphabetical order or random order.
From construction paper, cut out an apple stem and green leaf. Glue to the top of the apple.
Find A on the paper plate and tie one end of the spool of ribbon.
Now your child is ready to work on letter recognition and fine motor skills!
If your child needs help, sing through the alphabet a couple of times so your child can find the letter.
As your child threads the ribbon through each hole, talk about the letter and the sound it makes; this is a great way to sneak in some phonics work, too!
Continue threading the ribbon through the holes until all the holes have been used up and your child has laced through the alphabet.
Feel free to switch this activity up to work on lowercase letters, numbers, or even the letters of your child's name!
Who knew so much learning could happen with a simple paper plate?!
Check out these other fun paper plate learning activities!
Apple Themed Learning Activities
- September Writing Prompts
- Apple Number Bonds Activity
- Apple Addition Coloring Pages
- Apple Picking Multiplication Game
- Apple tree paintings with bubble wrap
Kristina once thought of going into education, but changed her mind a few years in to her degree. Ironically, she now has her hands full as a homeschooling mother of four. With children of various ages from infant to 7, she shares a variety of educational and play activities for babies through elementary age children on School Time Snippets. Follow along on Facebook and Pinterest.
