Veronika wanted to copy along when Travis threaded beads to make friendship bracelets back in the spring, so today I thought I’d introduce her to the skill! Threading is a fantastic fine motor activity for toddlers, and although I didn’t expect Veronika to ace it today, the idea was to introduce the concept and see if she could loop some items with large holes onto string.

Good, early items for toddlers to thread include dried tube-shaped pasta, cut up pieces of a paper towel tube, beads with big holes, and wooden craft spools.

At first I was going to have her thread onto shoe laces…

…but these were a little droopy and wobbly. We switched over to pipe cleaners which were much sturdier for her!

She was most interested in the pasta, which was by far the easiest item for her to thread. She could loop it onto the shoelace or the pipe cleaner with a little assistance.

She also loved testing out the beads, although these were tough for her fingers.

After a short while, she was mostly just interested in playing with the materials.

But I thought it was so sweet when big brother Travis swooped in and created a “bracelet” for Veronika.

She loved his creation!