Product of the Week!

Each week I will be reviewing a product that I love to use with my son and this week, my product of the week is the very versatile
~Wooden Lacing Reels~

These brightly coloured lacing reels come in a set of 20 reels with 2 laces. The size of the reel is 3cm x 3.25cm which make them great for little hands.

Lacing products are fantastic for encouraging Fine Motor Skills.

For those who are unsure what Fine Motor Skills are – they involve the use of the small muscles in the fingers, hand and arm to manipulate, control and use tools and materials. Another important component of Fine Motor Skills development is Hand-eye Coordination - that is where a person uses their vision to control the movements and actions of their small muscles.

My son has poor Fine Motor Skills so I always try to use toys that are fun, keep him engaged and involves his interests. The lacing reels are perfect for this as he loves lining/stacking things up, colours and counting so I can use the reels to teach my son multiple tasks like:

Lacing – using the lace to push through the reel is great for practicing the pincer grasp of the fingers. While he was lacing we were also counting the reels to a song like “one reel, two reels, three reels, four, five reels, six reels, seven reels, more”.
Stacking – we used the reels to stack on top of each other to see how high we could get them until they fell down or the fun part for my son was knocking them down!
Sequencing – we used the reels for my son to match the sequence of colours and while we sung our reel song (see above under lacing).

Matching – we used the reels for my son to match a reel to the coloured spots on the sheet.

Sorting – we used the reels as a sorting tool by asking my son to sort the reels by colour onto the correct coloured sheets and said each colour as he was placing them on the sheet.

Early Math – we used the reels as counters to teach early math with counting and number recognition.

Pretend Play – we used the lacing reels as pretend snakes and we were sliding through the forest while making ‘hissing’ sounds.

I was able to gain my son’s attention for a good 40 minutes and teaching him many different tasks from one toy all whilst having fun. Really the possibilities are endless – all you need is a little creativity and make it heaps of fun with lots of excitement and encouragement.

The Wooden Lacing Reels can be purchased from our online store for $14.95.

Happy Playing,