One of the most popular activities with children, in my experience, is threading.

There is a lot of room for creativity with threading exercises; however, the most popular is making a necklace for themselves that they can keep and take home (e.g. using macaroni or buttons/beads that are low-cost), or getting parents to bring in these items (which helps introduce concepts of recycling).

A couple of useful tips for threading:

– Children always like to make an extra necklace (for a friend or parent), so integrate making two into your activity.

– Have a variety of different colors (color the macaroni in advance) and use different shapes/sizes, to add to the educational experience.

– Make sure you use good quality string that won’t unfurl (you’ll thank me). You can use a piece of tape to wrap around the end to make it more sturdy and easy-to-use (resulting in less frustration for you and the children).

– Put their name on some masking tape that can be folded over the knotted end of the string – this can easily be removed later at home.

Looking for more activities for your children? Check out my free 50 favorite games and my top recommendations for: Toys, Board Games and Puzzles.