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Fine motor

Lacing Cards Printable

Free printable threading and lacing templates. Twelve shapes with punch holes around the outline, from a seven-hole house to a twenty-hole butterfly. Adjust the hole size, print onto card, punch, and sew around with a shoelace.

12 shapesAdjustable holesPrint on cardPDF · SVG
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Four steps

How to make a lacing card

  1. 1

    Pick a shape

    Start with the fewest holes for a first attempt.

  2. 2

    Print onto card

    Or print on paper and glue it to a cereal box.

  3. 3

    Cut and punch

    Cut around the outline, then punch each marked hole generously.

  4. 4

    Lace it

    Use a shoelace, or tape the end of a piece of yarn into a point.

Why threading matters more than it looks

Lacing is one of the few activities that forces the two hands to do genuinely different jobs at the same time. One hand becomes the holder and turner, the other the worker. Children who have not developed that split tend to move the whole card with both hands, and the same pattern shows up later as a page that slides around while they try to write on it.

It also builds the pincer grip directly. Pushing a lace through a hole and pulling it from the other side uses precisely the thumb and finger opposition that holding a pencil needs.

Making them last

Card is the difference between a toy that survives a week and one that tears in five minutes. Cereal box card is ideal, free, and stiffer than most craft card. If you have access to a laminator, laminating before punching gives cards that survive a classroom.

Punch the holes larger than seems necessary. A hole that grips the lace turns a satisfying activity into a fight, and the point here is the two-handed movement rather than precision.

Related printables

The same shapes are available as dot to dot puzzles with numbers instead of holes. Cutting practice trains the same two-handed coordination with scissors, and pre-writing patterns take the grip strength these build and put it to work with a pencil.

Answers

Frequently asked questions

Bilateral coordination, which is using both hands together at different jobs. One hand holds and turns the card while the other pushes and pulls the lace. That is the same split of work that cutting needs, and it is a prerequisite for handwriting, where one hand steadies the paper while the other writes.

Card if you have it. If not, print on ordinary paper and glue it to a cereal box or similar thin card, which works just as well and costs nothing. Plain paper alone will tear at the holes within a few minutes of use.

A shoelace is ideal because the stiff aglet at the end acts as a needle. Otherwise, wrap a short piece of sticky tape tightly around one end of a piece of yarn and cut it to a point. A blunt plastic needle also works for older children.

A single hole punch is easiest but only reaches a few centimetres from the edge. For holes further in, rest the card on an eraser or a folded towel and push a sharp pencil through. Make the holes generous, because holes that are too tight turn the activity into a frustration.

Around two and a half to five, though it varies widely. Start with the shapes that have fewest holes and largest spacing, and expect the first attempts to be pushing the lace through a single hole rather than sewing all the way round. That still counts.

Keep going

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More fine motor practice

Cutting practice trains the same two-handed coordination with scissors, and the same shapes work as dot to dot puzzles.

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