— By Julie Hodos on March 1, 2025

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Braiding is a life skill that older preschoolers and kindergarteners can easily learn. Whether they will use it to braid hair or strengthen rope, knowing how to braid is useful for boys and girls alike. 

If you’re interested in teaching more life skills to your 4-6 year old then be sure to check out Yy is for Yarn. Yarn is used in today’s activity as well as in other life skills activities like learning to tie shoes and counting to twenty.

Why learn to braid in homeschool?

When I mention braiding, what is it that comes to mind first? Is it braiding of hair? I thought so. It is most commonly used in this regard now. But I remember watching my dad braid baler twine together when he needed a heavier rope for a project around the farm. 

We forget how useful braiding can be and used in a variety of ways. One, it can be used to keep hair out of someone’s eyes while minimizing damage to the hair. Two, braiding increases the overall strength of a rope by distributing the tension that is put upon it across the strands more equally. Three, creating crafts and more.

Who can benefit from learning to braid?

Every child can benefit from learning to braid, whether they live on a farm or not. Boys naturally tend to enjoy learning those survival skills and girls naturally tend towards wanting to make pretty hairstyles. 

These are wide brush strokes of course. Boys can have an interest in learning to braid hair or girls to learn a rope strengthening technique. I’m a prime example. I initially learned to braid as a child helping my dad on the farm. Later I became more interested and practiced braiding on my doll’s hair until I could make mine own into a French braid.

My initial interest to learn to braid was for a very different reason than for why I came back to it a few years later. I’m glad my dad took the time to show me how to braid that first time because when I revisited it I already had the basics mastered.

Teaching 4-6 year old’s to learn to braid.

Materials needed to learn to braid.

You’ll need tape and three different colors of yarn and that is it! I like this pack of craft yarn. It’s very convenient and I let my child choose the three colors he will learn with.

Set up.

Begin by cutting the strands about the length of your forearm. Then tie all three strands into a knot at the top and tape it down on your table or another convenient location. 

Begin braiding.

Lay the colors out left to right and name the colors, let’s say respectively red, yellow, blue.

Pick up blue and pass it over the middle yellow, ask your child which yarn is in the middle now (blue). Pick up red and pass it over blue, the middle is now red. 

Next, have your child pick up yellow and pass it over red. Stick with them through the steps to help pull the braid tight at the top so they can see their progress and you can make any corrections as they are going.

Different children will need different help to learn to braid.

My firstborn has always had amazing fine motor skills, balance, and coordination. When I first taught him to learn to braid, aged 4.5 years, he moved the yarn with ease and they never tangled. However, he required more guidance from me longer because his focus has always been so short. I simply had to help him more with which color to move. 

Comparatively at the same age, my second born was the exact opposite. He knew which color needed to move for the next step but his fine motor skills were struggling to keep up. To assist with this I simply helped reposition the strands in his hands or make sure they were not tangled at the bottom.

Braiding is easy and useful

To learn to braid with different colors of yarn makes the entire process easier. Step your child through it with patience and assist with readjusting the strands when necessary. It may take several more days of practicing here and there but soon enough your child will have this valuable life skill in their toolbox.

They’ll be able to use it when needing to make a strong rope or braid hair. Whatever the motivation for perfecting the skill, they will have the basic knowledge.

Creative activities for 3-5 year old’s in homeschool.

Learn to Braid is a part of Yy is for Yarn. This is one week in a free preschool curriculum that focuses on learning the alphabet and learning through play based activities. Yy is for Yarn specifically looks at life skills for preschoolers advancing into kindergarten. Learn to braid, learn to tie shoes, and learn to recognize numbers to twenty. 

Letter of the Week is 26 weeks full of play based learning activities, book suggestions, coloring pages, free printables, and more. Best part is that it’s entirely free! Read more or sign up at the button below.

Learn to Braid

Activity Instructions