Learning to tie shoes can be frustrating for kids and parents, especially when the steps feel hard to track or the loops collapse mid-tying. This short video shares practical, therapy-informed ways to make shoe tying easier to learn and easier to practice at home.
Watch: How to Teach Shoe Tying
In the video below, we demonstrate:
- A simple pipe cleaner hack to help loops hold their shape while kids learn the steps
- Why starting with two different lace colors can reduce confusion
- The Double X method, a beginner-friendly alternative to the traditional bunny ears approach
- How to adjust tightness and add a double knot when needed
- How to practice shoe tying off the foot, while keeping the same orientation as real life
Why these methods help
Shoe tying is a complex skill. It combines fine motor coordination, bilateral coordination, hand strength, sequencing, and motor planning. Using tools like pipe cleaners and color contrast can lower the frustration barrier so kids can focus on learning the steps and building confidence.
Quick tips for practice at home
- Start with short practice sessions and stop before your child is overwhelmed
- Practice when you are not rushed, then carry the skill into real mornings later
- Celebrate effort and progress, not perfection
Need more support?
Therapy Clinic Services (TCS) provides neurodiversity-affirming, trauma-informed occupational therapy and parent coaching in Camp Hill, PA, plus telehealth across Pennsylvania.
Learn more: https://patcs.com
Video transcript
The full transcript is available below for accessibility and easy reference.
[00:00:00] All right, so in this video we’re going to learn how to tie a shoe. So I have pipe cleaners here. First. Pipe cleaners are great because they hold their shape. So as you’re teaching a child how to tie their shoe, if you’re doing the traditional method with, the hard part with the bunny ears, is that they tend to lose where they’re going.
So you make your X, you pull tight, then you make your bunny ear. It’ll keep the shape, so that way as you’re wrapping and pushing through, you’re not losing the progress. As you’re making it. We also have two different colors, purple and green. That helps kids see where they are um, and which lace they’re using.
So it’s easier to differentiate as they’re learning. As they get better, you can start doing things with the same color. Um, or you can move to actual laces that are the same color. Either way, this is a great option for how to start. Another method for tying the shoes, if the bunny ears are frustrating or your child doesn’t quite have the fine motor skills for that yet, is the double X method.
So, it’s going to start out the same way. I’m going to make an X with my green and my purple, and I’m going to take one underneath. I’m going to pull tight, exact same way to [00:01:00] start as the traditional method of shoe tying with bunny ears. Then I’m going to take, and I’m going to make another X, pull through. and I want a hole that is just enough where I can get these ends in, but not so big that I can’t pull it tight.
Um, I usually tell kids if they can get their index finger in there, that that’s about the size that you want. And then Once they are in, you go ahead and pull, and that’s how you get the double X method. So On laces with two different colors. We’ve got green and purple here again. Um, It’s the same thing. X, go underneath, pull, make an X, underneath, pull until you get that hole.
So If it is too tight the nice thing about this is too or too loose, you can pull through or loosen as you’re going. So I can make some adjustments now before I stick the ends in. Stick the end in and pull down.[00:02:00]
End in, pull down, and then I am going to take these two and pull tight. If for some reason this is too loose, like I got it really far out this way and I lost one, you can stick it back in, through, pull it down, and then pull tight again to kind of get it to the tightness you want. You can also make an X again, go ahead, and pull tight to double knot it. On an actual shoe, same thing. X, underneath, and through; X, underneath, So I get a hole out my index finger for me. put the N hard ends through the bottom, through the top, and then pull. And then If I wanted to double knot, go through. You can also take the shoes and practice with them, not on the child’s foot, but orient it so it is like when you tie your shoe with it on your foot. Hopefully, you found this video helpful and it taught you another way to teach your child how to tie their shoe.