I have admired and considered buying eeBoo Lacing Cards to help Miss Leyba develop her fine motor skills, but couldn’t bring myself to spend $$$ on something that I could make fairly easily on my own. Well, surprise surprise, I haven’t had a chance to design, print off and punch any cards yet, but we found these adorable ones at our local thrift store for… two dollars! (instead of $14 for a new set)
Now I would not have personally picked this particular design, Fairies of the Field
A purchase at our thrift store also benefits our neighborhood hospice and keeps items like this from being thrown away, so it’s a win-win situation for all (except for the manufacturer, I suppose) and eco-groovy to boot. (Don’t worry, eeBoo, we already own several of your matching/bingo games and I CAN’T WAIT to get Miss Leyba your puzzle pairs.)
Looking for something similar? Amazon sells the Fairies of the Field
Miss Leyba hasn’t figured out the sewing action yet (we just bought them this afternoon), but in the meantime she’s having fun playing with the shoe laces and over-sized cards!
I love eeBoo, too! The lacing cards looks very nice, and your post gave me go-ahead to another eeBoo for Toko. I hope to get good deal as well.=)
Great idea – I think I need to go to thrift stores more…
Another idea, if you want to use up the cards or she gets bored with the cards, is to use two pieces of felt, cut them into identical shapes (hearts, stars, animals if you’re more creative), and then punch the holes around the outside of the felt. After she sews it most of the way (with yarn), you can stuff it, have her finish sewing it, and then she has a little stuffed whatever to play with.
I’m teaching a 5-year-old and a 7-year-old how to sew for real (pillows, change purses), but their 4-year-old sister was feeling left out, so we did this. Just used a plastic needle so she wouldn’t poke herself, tied the thread to the needle so she couldn’t keep pulling it off, and she didn’t feel left out.