Spring Lacing Projects from DLTK-kids

Spring Lacing Projects Lacing projects are a great craft for preschoolers and kindergarten children to complete during any holiday. The lacing gives them fine motor skill practice and practice tying knots and bows (shoelaces!) The large blank area in the center gives the kids the chance to 'get creative' by further decorating with paper cutouts, stickers or crayons.

There are a few different templates to choose from.

Materials:

• Wool or ribbon
• single hole punch
• scissors
• pencil
• card stock, poster board or construction paper

Directions:

• ADULT: print template of choice or make your own.
  
• ADULT: Trace onto a thick piece of cardboard (cardboard backs from paper pads or old boxes work well).
  
• ADULT: Cut out this template
  
• Allow the children to trace the template onto a piece of card stock or poster board (or construction paper... though I prefer the thicker card stock for lacing projects).
  OR have an adult do this prior to craft time.
  
• Allow the children to cut out their card stock shapes
  OR have an adult do this prior to craft time.
  
• Allow the children to make holes around their shape (about an inch or two apart)
  OR have an adult do this prior to craft time.
  
• Provide the children with a length of wool or ribbon.
  • You can wrap some scotch tape around the end of the wool to make it more like a shoe lace.
  • Have the child thread the wool through the holes.
  • children can use different 'stitches' to complete their lacing project (simple running stitch, X stitch, blanket stitch, etc). If you want to 'inspire' the kids, provide a number of examples for them and have them up at the front of the room.
    
• Practice tying knots and/or bows to connect additional pieces of wool or to tie off at the end of the lacing.
  
• Let the children use stickers, stamps, die cuts, or markers and their imagination to decorate their completed project.
  
• ALTERNATIVE: instead of lacing just one shape, lace together two shapes. Leave the top open and you'll be able to stick things inside when you're done!
  

• Close the template window after printing to return to this screen.
  
• Set page margins to zero if you have trouble fitting the template on one page (FILE, PAGE SETUP or FILE, PRINTER SETUP in most browsers).

Specific Instructions PLUS Templates:

Cloud: lace with a running stitch or a blanket stitch around the edge of the cloud - silver or grey is a good color (every cloud has a silver lining), but white or blue would work nicely too. You can tie a bow anywhere on the cloud and draw a face on the cloud if you like. Cloud Template
Flower: lace with a running stitch in a circle around the center of the flower. Tie a bow at the bottom. Green wool or ribbon would be nice. You can color the outside of the flower and draw a face in the middle if you like. You could also lace around the outside of the flower instead of or as well as the center, using any color you like (red, blue, pink, purple, etc). A blanket stitch would be nice for this.. Flower Template
Rainbow: lace with a running stitch in a different color along each arch of the rainbow. Rainbow Template
Raindrop: lace with a running stitch around the raindrop. Tie a bow at the bottom or top. Blue wool or ribbon would be nice. Raindrop Template	Crafts found at www.dltk-kids.com