Homeschooling a Toddler – Beading Activity

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It’s the second day of school for the big brother Ethan and Ayden is left alone at home with me. Now that Ayden is 16 months old, I can start ‘homeschooling’ him just like what I’ve done with the elder brother years ago. By ‘homeschooling’ I mean keeping Ayden occupied by giving him lots of playtime to improve his fine motor skills.

Parents these days have all the luxury to splurge on their kids when it comes to education and well-being. Many of Ayden’s peers (toddlers the same age as him or even younger) are already attending playschool since they were born. I on the other hand, prefer to ‘educate’ my kids myself; at least during their crucial foundation years that is. Ethan was home-schooled until he was 6. He only attended 8 months of preschool before going to Primary One. But please don’t get me wrong. I am not saying there is anything wrong to send your baby/toddlers to playschool. I am just saying that I can’t afford it financially; so the next best thing is to guide them at home.

From today onwards I will share the activities I do with Ayden on our so-called ‘homeschool’ days. Let’s start with Activity 1.

Beading for Toddlers.

Beading develops fine motor skills. Threading with beads will help little children with their hand-eye coordination. It need not require expensive materials. In fact, you will be surprised to know that you most probably have them all at home already.

Materials needed:

Beads. I used the plastic shapes from Ethan’s shape sorter toy as they have holes in them making it perfect for threading.
Yarn.
Cellophane tape.

Fret not if you don’t have yarn at home. You may also use shoelaces. In fact, shoelace is more suitable as it already has a stiff end. As for yarn, we will need to make it stiff at the end so that the toddler can thread it through those beads.

To stiffen the end, simply wrap it with cellophane tape.

Tie one end with the plastic shapes so the rest wont fall out and we are ready for ‘lesson’.

Ayden, being only 16 months old will need all the help he can get. Don’t expect him to use both hands independently and thread like a champion on his very first try. Activities like this requires precise hand eye coordination and concentration. I helped to hold the bead while Ayden is trying to thread the yarn through it.

Once he gets the yarn through, I let him pull it so the bead will fall to the end of the yarn. Then we continue with another bead.

I try not to help him this time and he simply placed the bead on the mat and tried threading through it.

Here’s a video of Ayden’s first attempt threading with the bead:

Threading and beading also instills patience in a toddler. Many a times he will get frustrated when he is unable to get the thread through but after much perseverance he is able to do it. The satisfaction on his face after an accomplishment is priceless. Most importantly, this is a fun activity that keeps him occupied for a good ten minutes. 

Check out the rest of our homeschool activities:

* Reading Activity

* Colour Sorting