Why Can't My Child Tie Shoelaces?

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Learning to tie shoes involves more than just making bunny ears and going around the tree! If you are asking why your child can't tie shoelaces, you are not alone. This is a common challenge that many children face.

From an occupational therapy perspective, sometimes a child has not yet developed one or more of the underlying skills that are needed in order to tie shoes. Let's take a look at the key areas where kids often need some support.

Tying Shoelaces: Skills Needed for Success!

why can't my child tie shoelaces? Tips and strategies to build the skills needed

The tips and activities on this page are designed to support your child's normal development. They are not intended to diagnose and treat. If you are concerned about your child's skills, please contact your local occupational therapist for support.

1) Bilateral Coordination Skills

If your child has difficulty using both hands together, then mastering shoelace tying can be tricky.

If your child finds it challenging to use a knife and fork together, battles to do up buttons, or struggles to manage the paper while cutting with scissors, these could indicate the need to practice more bilateral skills.

tying shoelaces requires bilateral coordination skillsUsing both hands together

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2) Fine Motor Skills

Your child needs to have good hand and finger dexterity in order to  hold onto the shoelaces and push them where they need to be.

if your child also avoids tasks like drawing, crafts, or scissor cutting, then try some simple activities to strengthen the muscles in their hands and fingers.

child using fine motor skills to tie shoelacesHand and finger dexterity
  • Explore my free hand and finger exercises that are easy to do at home.
  • If you prefer having all your fine motor ideas and tips in one place, my Fine Motor Activities e-book may be a good fit for you!

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3) Motor Planning and Executive Function Skills

When tying shoelaces, children need to organize and sequence the actions they need to take. This requires strong motor planning skills.

They also need to remember the steps, focus on the task, and adapt if something changes, for example if they drop the lace.This requires executive function skills.

  • If your child has poor motor planning or executive function skills, you could use visual aids or a rhyme to remind them of the steps.
  • It might also help if they can verbalize the task to you before beginning it, so you can check their sequencing.
  • You can find some helpful videos and stories online, like this quick 30 second video.
  • Ian’s Shoelace Site gives photographed step by step instructions on different methods of tying shoelaces. Find one that works for your child!

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4) Hand-Eye Coordination

The eyes need to effectively guide the hands as they tie the shoelaces. This is called hand-eye coordination.

If your child struggles with activities like catching a ball, cutting along a line or drawing neatly inside the lines of a path, then you can encourage them to develop this skill.

your child needs eye-hand coordination skills to tie shoelacesEyes guide the hands

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5) Visual Perception

If your child struggles to see which lace goes where, when they are overlapping, the issue might be related to visual perception skills.

  • Dual colored laces like these ones from Easy Tie#Ad  are absolutely brilliant for helping kids who struggle to understand how to tie shoelaces when the laces seem to merge into each other.
    Each side of the lace is a different color, making it easy to see which loop is where.
try dual colored laces to help kids tie their shoelacesTry dual colored laces

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6) Tactile Perception

Your child’s ability to sense what the fingers are doing, without seeing them, is an important skill when it comes to tying laces.

It's about feeling where and how the laces overlap and being able to pull them through without really being able to see them.

Your child needs good tactile perception skills to tie shoelacesFeeling where to push
  • Fun tactile perception activities can help improve your child's tactile perception skills.
  • Textured, stiffer shoelaces like the ones from Easy Tie are also great for kids who have visual impairments or tactile perception challenges.

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Can Special Laces Help A Child Who Can't Tie Shoelaces?

Special laces can definitely help kids who find shoelace tying difficult.

Here's how the stiffer, dual-colored shoelaces from Easy Tie#Ad worked for my daughter who was struggling to work with the floppy white laces in her shoes:

  • The stiffer laces make great "bunny ears", and were much easier for my daughter to handle than the floppy laces that came with her shoes.
stiffer laces may help your child learn to tie shoelacesStiffer Laces Help
  • With dual-colored laces, she was quickly able to see how to push one lace under another.
    She had previously struggled with this concept.
dual color shoelaces are helpfulDual Colors Help
  • She was so proud of her finished laces!

We received some laces free in return for an honest review - I am impressed with them! If you are interested, head over to Easy Tie's Amazon store#Ad to view their laces and video for yourself.

It is possible for kids to learn to tie shoelaces with some help!Voila!

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Adaptations for Children with Special Needs or Limited Mobility

If your child has special needs or limited mobility, then even working on these underlying skills may not be enough to help them master shoelaces at the same age as their peers.

  • Consider using alternative footwear like Velcro shoes before gradually introducing special shoelaces such as the Easy Tie ones.
  • Check out the range of no-tie shoelaces#Ad that are available at local stores or online - find one that suits your child's ability
  • Work with an occupational therapist to help your child develop the skills needed at their own pace.


If you came to this page asking the question "Why can't my child tie shoelaces?", I hope you feel empowered!

Tying shoelaces involves more than just a sequence of steps. By developing the underlying skills of bilateral coordination, fine motor skills, motor planning, hand-eye coordination, and visual and tactile perception, you can give your child the support needed.

Celebrate every milestone along the way!

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Related Pages

activities to build eye-hand coordination skillsHand-Eye Coordination
activities to build bilateral coordination skillsBilateral Activities
why tactile perception is importantTactile Perception
Develop fine motor skills with these hand and finger exercises for kidsFine Motor Activities

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