Monday, May 20, 2013

Lacing Toy

Esther has shown an interest in tying my shoes lately.  Or maybe I should say, untying.  She really likes pulling the laces out of my sneakers entirely.

She also likes trying to tie things.  Here she is with my uncle after she untied his shoes...
So instead of having to re-lace my sneakers every other day, I decided to make Esther a lacing toy.  You've seen them: they're plastic shapes with holes around the edges and they come with shoelaces...

I found some laces in the clearance section of the shoe department at Target, but everything else was stuff I had on hand.

As the mother of a toddler, I have a few diaper boxes laying around.  They're good cardboard!

I have a few old coffee table books that have some great pictures but don't really serve much purpose in my life right now. I've been contemplating ways to upcycle them or their pics...

I tore out two pics and mod-podged (is that a verb?) them to the cardboard. I cut out shapes with a utility knife.

 
Then I used a hole punch to... punch holes (duh) around the edges of the pic.  BONUS: Esther learns about Van Gogh at a young age! 

I finally finished with varnish.  I deliberately painted it thickly on the edges and in the holes, and I applied three or four coats, front and back.

The finished product with laces!

This whole task made me realize that I will someday have to teach Esther how to tie her shoes.  That sounds like a really hard parenting challenge. Props to all you parents whose kids know how to tie shoes!


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