Educational Insights never ceases to amaze me with the quantity and quality of their learning products. I wouldn’t exactly say I’m a homeschooling mom. I plan to send my kids away to school when they’re old enough, but I’m also very invested in them getting the best education possible. For me this means that I am very involved in helping them learn.
Big Brother loves to learn and soaks up information like a sponge. He is as creative as all get out and spends all day playing pretend. He is not, however equally skilled or practiced in the fine motor department. He has little to no interest in things like drawing and coloring–basically anything he has to create with his hands. I decided to check out Educational Insights site for things that Big Brother would find fun and would also help him develop those skills.
One of the items I found was the String-Along Lacing Kit and Pattern Cards. The String-Along Lacing Kit is made for children ages 4-7. It is designed to develop hand-eye coordination and help children with counting and patterning. The kit includes a lacing pen that kids punch into the board to make original designs. The kit also comes with 16 pattern cards and 18 colorful laces. The lacing board is a made from 2 layers of very durable plastic with a layer of foam sandwiched in between. The only thing that was missing that would have been nice to have was a set of instructions. I don’t know if the lack of instructions was simply an error in the box we received or if instructions don’t come with this kit.
It looks pretty intuitive to use, but it took us a while to figure out how to use the punch pen. Finally we discovered that you simply thread the pen til about a half inch of string is sticking out the pointy end of the pen and then you punch it into the board. Instead of going all the way through the holes like a needle, you simply push the tip of the pen in enough to get the string through and then pull the pen back out again. The Husband and I had a little “Ahhhaaa” moment over this.
Right now the patterns are a little too difficult for Big Brother to understand (he’ll be 4 next week), but the simple act of lacing is very good practice for him. He likes to do the lacing and then we look for pictures in the designs he’s made. He actually has a really good time doing it. I think this will be a great tool for teaching him how to follow a pattern (and directions) when he gets a little older.
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| Ideally, I’d have him doing this on a table or on his lap, but I just had to snap a picture right before bedtime. |
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| We decided that his picture was a big wave swallowing up a green ship. |
Buy It:
You can purchase the String-Along Lacing Kit and Pattern Cards at Educational Insights for $19.99.
Disclosure: I received the above mentioned products, at no cost to myself, in order to facilitate a review. All opinions expressed are honest and are entirely my own.
About Amy @ Oh So Savvy Mom
