Teaching children to tie their shoe laces requires patience, practice and a lot of praise.  There are various ways to teach how to tie a bow, so it is important to decide which method to follow and stick to it or the child will get confused and find it more difficult than necessary. Once you have decided the method to use, make a game plan and stick to it; most importantly the child needs to be ready with a fully developed hand to eye coordination. 

A few things to remember before starting:

1. Opt for flat shoe laces rather than round slippery ones

2.  Use two different colour laces to practice making a bow

3. Make sure the child learns facing the shoe as if he/she was wearing it so when you teach make sure the child is sitting next to you not opposite.

There are all sorts of stories and rhymes to help children learn having fun. We adopted the rhyme to the tune of “Splish Splash I was Taking a Bath”

Criss Cross I am Tying My Shoes
Criss Cross and go under the bridge,
Then you got to pull it tight.
Make a loop but keep a long tail,
That is how to do it right.
Then you take the other string,
and you wrap it ’round the loop.
Pull it through the hole,
Now you got the scoop.
Criss cross and go under the bridge,
Now you made a double knot!