BRAIDING, SHOE TYING, & COUNTING TO 20
Life skills activities for preschoolers.
— By Julie Hodos on February 25, 2025
This post may contain affiliate links. Please refer to our disclosure policy.
Your preschooler watches you tie your shoes. Maybe you braid your hair, an older child’s hair, or maybe your preschooler’s hair. You definitely count to 20 regularly, have you done it out loud for your preschooler? These life skills activities for preschoolers will challenge an older 4 year old, but they’re up for the task! Especially since they simply want to mimic you. These hands-on tasks will encourage creativity and perseverance. They offer tangible results that boost confidence while imparting practical skills applicable in everyday life.
Table of Contents
Why use yarn to teach life skills activities for preschoolers.
Using yarn to teach life skills like braiding and knot-tying is both effective and engaging due to its versatility and low cost. These activities foster fine motor skills, patience, and problem-solving as learners manipulate the flexible, colorful strands. Yarn allows a child to see the difference between strands when they are different colors. Also, using yarn for learning to tie shoes is beneficial because it’s easy for a child to handle and can provide contrasting colors.
Books to inspire.
Before introducing these challenging life skills activities for preschoolers I encourage you to inspire them by reading. Firstly, Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett is an exceptional book about a little girl who transforms a village with her knitting. Secondly, A Friendship Yarn by Lisa Moser is an adorable book I love to read anytime of year, but especially in the fall. In short, it’s about the joy of sharing and forgiving friends.
Mini unit study: life skills activities for preschoolers.
Learn to braid.
Setting up a braiding activity with yarn is simple and highly effective for teaching life skills activities for preschoolers. In short, it requires only three different colors of string to create an engaging, hands-on experience. My four-year-old quickly grasped the braiding pattern. He demonstrated how intuitive this activity can be for young learners. However, his fine motor skills lagged behind his enthusiasm. As a result, it occasionally led to tangled strands or misplaced strings. I stepped in to gently untangle or reposition the yarn in his hands. Overall, fostering his confidence while supporting skill development.
In contrast, when my eldest child first tried braiding, his fine motor skills were more advanced, allowing him to manipulate the yarn with ease. However, he needed more guidance to maintain focus and follow the pattern consistently. This activity not only hones coordination and patience but also builds problem-solving abilities and resilience. Its low cost and versatility make it accessible for all ages, encouraging creativity and perseverance through tangible, rewarding outcomes. Read more about this activity here.
Practice tying shoes.
The shoebox yarn activity is a creative, low-cost way to teach children the essential life skill of tying shoelaces. In short, it uses a shoebox and yarn to make practice engaging and manageable. After threading yarn through holes in a shoebox, kids can then place it between their knees. This mimics the setup of tying real shoes while developing fine motor skills and coordination. The hands-on method helps children master knots like the bow tie with ease. To set up the activity and read full instructions, check out the post Out with the Velcro Shoes here.
We use this shoe tyin activity as a motivator for our children. Once they can successfully tie the bowtie on the shoebox we reward them with a new pair of lace-up shoes. This approach fosters perseverance, builds confidence, and makes learning fun. It turns a practical skill into a rewarding milestone for kids eager to ditch Velcro.
Yarn ball #1-20 recognition.
My four-year-old has been honing simple addition skills using the printable from Uu is for Umbrella. He can confidently recognize numbers 0-10 through engaging activities like Apple Math. Now, he’s ready to tackle numbers up to twenty with a new preschool printable designed with a yarn theme. This aligns perfectly with our hands-on yarn-based activities such as braiding and knot-tying. This thematic consistency keeps learning fun and cohesive, as well as reinforcing fine motor skills and creativity.
The free printable, available at Yy is for Yarn, offers interactive exercises to build number recognition and basic math skills. This makes it an ideal resource for young learners transitioning to higher numbers. Overall, it will help maintain an engaging, tactile approach to education.
Life skills activities for preschoolers.
Braiding, shoe tying, and counting to twenty may be simple for us but they’ll challenge your preschooler. Also, don’t expect them to get these the first day. Revisit these activities over the course of the next few weeks. Watch your child grow in their skills and become more confident the more they practice.
Looking for more life skills activities for preschoolers? The blog here at Playing for Hours offers many more ideas to integrate life skills activities for preschoolers into your homeschool. From practicing scissor skills to cooking in the kitchen your preschooler will be proud of what they can do.
More creative life skills activities for preschoolers.
You’ll also find more life skills activities for preschoolers in Letter of the Week. This 26 week curriculum is play based. In addition, your 3-5 year old will be challenged and encouraged in their lessons. They’ll learn more than their alphabet. They will learn about science, math and more. Your child will take ownership of their lessons, learn through curiosity and play, and will be proud of all that they can do. Check out the full Letter of the Week below or to sign up.
Recent posts on the homeschool blog.
