Lacing Cards

As I quickly mentioned before, I'm trying to start a day care in my home. It's a slow process getting this going. I've taken a first aid course, had criminal record checks done, I've written a 13 page "handbook", created menu plans, had two home inspections, and have done 3 of four days of a child care course. I still have to complete the child care course, and have another inspection before I can be a "registered" licensed not required family child care centre. Before my next inspection, I have to get a cover for a light fixture, re-adjust some lattice work on our stairs (the rails are too far apart, so we had to put lattice up, and apparently some of the gaps between the lattice and the steps are too far apart, so we have to adjust those) and I need to figure out a way to store bleach and water spray bottles so that they are easily accessible, yet out of reach of the children. And apparently having them on a 5 foot high shelf in the bathroom isn't in-accessible enough. Whew... it's a lot of work, and I'm not even getting "Licensed"!

But enough with the whining. There is a lot of good stuff happening while I'm going through this training.

I'm becoming a much more "involved" parent. I've noticed a real positive change in my girls' behaviour. Cherry is so much happier and compliant than she has been in the past few months, and is eager to spend time trying out the new activities I've been bringing home.

I've also learned a lot about child development, milestones, guidance, etc. This has really helped me to cope and deal with the changes my girls are going through. I've always been respectful, and pretty positive when dealing with my kids, but just tweaking my language just that little bit has made things a lot better around here. But more on that another time.

Today, I want to talk about lacing cards. About half a year ago, I saw a post in a blog that I regularly read. It was a sappy post about a way-too-cute little girl. A lovely letter written from a mom to her daughter. I love reading these posts that Julie makes for her little ones, and every time I read them, I wish that I could write a post even half as eloquent for my little ones. But this particular post caught my attention because in it, Julie mentions LACING CARDS! Now, I remember doing lacing cards when I was a child. I used to call the activity "sewing" as a child, so I never thought to call them "lacing cards" in particular. Months before I saw this post, I had this little memory of "those things with the holes in them, that you put the string through, you know? with pictures and stuff" but had no idea what to call them. Then I saw the post about them. And I had a mission! I went out to find them. I looked high and low. I looked in toy stores, I looked in craft stores. No one knew what I was talking about. I probably looked through close to a dozen stores. Then I moved to my tiny little town with barely any place to shop, and pretty much gave up on the idea.

Until today.

In my child care class today, we watched a video about quality care, and there was a short clip of children using lacing cards. Our instructor mentioned how great these were, and I chimed in with my story above.

Then, the instructor said "They're so easy to make!"

Uhh... Of course! Why didn't I think of that?!?!?

So, I went out and bought the supplies, and Cherry and I made some today. And below, I will take you through the steps!



Here is what you need:
~A roll of clear "contact paper" or "mack tack".
~Some sort of paper to cut into shapes. We used old paintings that I didn't want to throw out, but that were taking up space and looking sort of clutter-y. Another idea is to use colouring pages.
~A hole punch. A single hole punch is best, but I couldn't find mine ANYWHERE today, so I had to use the three hole punch. Wow... I wish I had the one hole punch!
~Scissors
~Yarn
~Enthusiastic child(ren)




Cut shapes from the paper. Cut around the outlines of your simple colouring pages, or maybe do a theme shape or two. This is my fancy leaf cut out of a piece of paper which we finger painted on a couple of weeks ago.



Cut some of your clear plastic "paper stuff" I've provided this photo so you can see what it actually looks like, if you have no clue what I'm talking about. This bit came off of a roll that cost under $10, and I think it's over 3 yards long.



This is me putting the film over my leaf. If you have a laminater, you can obviously use that instead. This way is cheaper, but laminating is more "permanent".



After you've coated it, trim off the excess, and then punch holes into it. Here you see my "Turkey" coated, but with no holes, and my "Hand" with holes and yarn laced through.
I might have done a better job making the shapes and punching the holes, but Cherry was in such a rush to get them done, that it didn't leave much room to be "perfect". She helped every step of the way as well, which also, doesn't leave much room for "perfect".



The ends of the yarn will become frayed easily, and will be hard to thread through the holes. When I was a kid, I'm pretty sure my lacing cards came with a large plastic needle. I just used some of the contact paper and wrapped a bit around the end of the yarn. It worked great.

I love this project. They were fun to make, and they're fun to lace. Lacing helps to develop fine motor co-ordination, and it's a quiet activity that requires a child to sit and think while they manipulate both the card and the yarn.

A few tips:
~Punch the holes through both the paper and the plastic. If you punch it just through the plastic, it'll tear easily. This won't be an issue if you're actually laminating the project.
~Don't leave the yarn too long. I don't know if I'm alone on this, or what, but I found it really hard to figure out how long to make the yarn for each card. If it's too long, it just gets tangled all over the place, and if it's too short, then you can't finish the card. If someone can figure out a fail-proof way of figuring out how long to cut the yarn, be sure to let me know!
~Make sure you tie the yarn through the first hole. Your kid will get very frustrated with the task if the yarn keeps on coming out!

Have fun!

Sexy New Bedroom

Will add some details later... I'm tired!

*****edited to add*****

So, This room was a bit of a project. It started as our guest room. It was a yellow colour, and relatively boring. We didn't choose this room right away, because it's at the front of the house, closer to the road, and because the room that we DID choose has some cool windows. But then, we got a major roof leak, and the ceiling was totally cracked and nasty, so we had to re-do the ceiling. That was a MAJOR task, as we had to dry-wall it, then I did all that plaster over top so that it would look okay. And since we did all that work, we decided we might as well do the whole room and make it our master! So, coloured primer, four coats of red-ish paint, wainscoting, chair rail, crown, and two coats of white later, we have our sexy new room!