I adore all Montessori Practical Life activities but Threading is especially loved in our home. It is such a valuable skill for fine motor development, building confidence, and learning a wonderful practical skill.
Threading in Montessori is a fine-motor refinement activity where a wooden guide or cotton string is passed through a bead. The degree of difficulty depends on the size of the bead and the rigidity of the guide or string. Threading activities are a precursor to sewing and forms part of the Practical Life curriculum.
Threading is not just putting a string through a bead. There are a plethora of activities for every age and you can easily and inexpensively make most of these activities at home. Did I mention how much all children love threading activities? What’s not to love?
Everything You Need To Know About Threading in Montessori
What is the purpose of threading activities for toddlers?
As with all the practical life activities in Montessori, threading is a purposeful activity where the process is valued just as much as the end result. The purpose of threading is to develop and refine fine motor movements. It is especially beneficial in developing bilateral coordination – two hands working together.
Like most Montessori activities, threading aims to help the child build confidence and gain independence through mastery. This activity is both calming and requires intense concentration. This is a skill that children build through practice.
The benefits of threading are:
- Increased concentration
- Development of a practical skill
- Builds confidence
- Refines dexterity and hand-eye coordination
- Color identification
- patterning
When can my child start threading?
As a general rule, threading activities can be introduced long before a child is ready to handle a needle and thread. A series of Montessori activities are introduced as early as 12 months on which aids in preparing a child for later threading and sewing activities. These include infant ring stacking activities.
At what age should a child be able to thread beads?
Threading activities used in progression should prepare a child to thread beads around their second birthday. This is not prescriptive but more of a guideline since every child will develop at their own pace. The size of the bead should also be considered in terms of safety and difficulty.
A guide for threading progression
| Age | Montessori Threading Activity |
|---|---|
12 months + | Ring stacking – separate colors & biggest ring same size as baby’s hand |
Cubes on a vertical dowel | |
14 – 16 months + | Discs on a horizontal dowel |
Discs on a serpentine dowel | |
15 – 18 months + | Three pegs with small rings (in primary colors) |
16 – 18 months + | Bead stringing |
24 months + | Sewing |
Threading activities for toddlers 1 – 3
Let’s divide these activities into three categories:
- Stacking (12 months +)
- Threading (14 – 24 months)
- Sewing & Beading (24 months +)
These are all Montessori-friendly activities that can easily and inexpensively be made at home using recycling materials and random household items.
Stacking activities
These are preparatory activities to help your young toddler build the necessary skills needed for threading activities. Keep it simple and use what you have if you are not ready to invest in Montessori materials. Just make sure your DIY activities are safe. Always supervise these activities – the dowel can potentially be dangerous if your baby falls onto it or sticks it into their eyes.
Household items to use as a dowel
- Kitchen towel stand/holder
- Toilet roll glued to a cardboard base
Household items to serve as discs
- Cut pool noodle
- Cut toilet rolls
- Curtain rail rings (wood)
Threading Activities
There are endless ideas for do-it-yourself threading activities online so these are just some foundational elements to get you started. You are only limited by your imagination. Recycling materials are great for threading activities so keep that in mind when sorting through the egg cartons, twine, and drinking straws.
Household items to use as guide/thread
- Plastic tubing (aquarium)
- Pipe cleaners
- Plastic straws
- Shoelace with guide
- Cotton rope with guide
- Wire hanger
Household items to use as ‘beads’
- Punched cardboard shapes
- Large dry Macaroni
- Large wood beads
- Threading blocks (borrowed from another toy)
Sewing & Beading activities
There are no hard and fast rules here – just start with simple activities and add more difficulty as your child’s technique improves. There are no limits to what you can do with fabric, thread a needle and some beads. Keep in mind that rough, stiff fabric is easier to work with for small hands. Also keep in mind that Rome was not built in a day so try to isolate the skills by offering your child an oppertunity to work on them individually before they can all be used together (cutting with scissors, threading a needle, the action of the needle going in and out of the fabric etc.).
Basics for a Montessori Sewing Kit
- Sewing card (a piece of cardboard with premade holes in a straight line, zig-zag line, and basic geometric shapes)
- Embroidery or tapestry needle (the biggest size you can find)
- Cotton/Wool knitting yarn or embroidery thread
- Embroidery frame (5 inch round frame)
- Bluntnose scissors with real blades by Staedtler
Fabric to use for stitching and embroidery:
- Burlap
- Linen
- Old kitchen towel
- Curtaining fabrics (mesh-like)
You can read more about sewing activities and scissor use in this article about Montessori Arts and Crafts for toddlers.
Tips for threading activities with toddlers
- Be patient – Keep in mind that they will need to go through their unique process and might not complete the activity as you had in mind.
- Demonstrate the threading action frequently without being instructive. Perhaps you can do your own sewing activity while in their presence.
- Try not to interfere unnecessarily – It is more about the process and them having a positive experience while they figure it out.
- Introduce a real scissor (blunt nose with real blades) so your child can learn how to use it safely by the time they are ready for real sewing activities.
Montessori-friendly Threading toys
This is a train we were gifted but they are not hard to find. Here’s a similiar one from Melissa & Doug
These twist and thread activities are a bit more advanced but you could remove the more difficult shapes for a younger child.
As I mentioned before, remove the more complicated shapes for a younger child. These shapes can also be used to thread a shoelace through.
Happy threading!