Build Mighty Little Fingers – Bat Lacing Card (Printable Fine Motor Activity for Preschool and Kindergarten)

This bat lacing card is a fantastic fine motor activity for preschool and kindergarten. Print it, laminate it, hole punch it and hand your little learner a lace or a length of yarn and you’re pretty much good to go!

Carefully threading that lace in and out of each hole works the small muscles in their hands and builds the hand-eye coordination they’ll be calling on every day, from fastening buttons to eventually holding a pencil.

And according to National Geographic Kids, a bat’s wing is actually a thin layer of skin stretched between four long fingers and a thumb – not so different from those little hands that’ll be doing the lacing!

Time to get threading.

What Skills Can Your Little Ones Learn And Develop?

This bat threading card is designed to help your children practice and develop some fine motor skills, such as:

• Hand-eye coordination – to be able to understand what they are seeing and get their hands to go where they want them to
• Finger strength – to be able to hold the lace and push it through the holes
• Hand dominance – developing and strengthening the skill of one of their hands
• Finger dexterity – the ability to move fingers in different ways and use different fingers for different tasks
• Bilateral coordination – lacing requires both hands to work together – one to hold the card steady while the other threads. This kind of two-handed coordination is an important developmental milestone.
• Pincer grip – Children naturally use a pincer-style grip to hold and manipulate the lace, which directly supports their pencil grip.
• Spatial awareness – Understanding where the holes are and how the lace moves through them develop spatial reasoning.

They can also help children practice patience and concentration as they may find it tricky at first and offer a great chance to talk about the different holidays we celebrate.

How To Prepare This Bat Themed Lacing Card

First you’re going to want to download the threading card by clicking on download button at the bottom of the page.

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Then print them off onto paper or card.

You’ll probably want to laminate it to make it stronger. 

Then use a hole punch to punch out the holes around the edges.

You can make the threading cards easier by punching fewer holes, or more difficult by adding a few more.

That’s pretty much it, just grab some long laces, or yarn and let your little learners practice their fine motor skills in a fun way.

If you are using yarn, you may want to toughen the ends by dipping in some PVA glue and leaving to dry first.

Get Even More Out of This Bat Lacing Card

This one’s more versatile than it looks – here are some fun ways to get even more mileage out of it.

Try a Different Lacing Pattern

The obvious move is lacing around the outside, in and out of each hole in order – but that’s just the start. Once your little learner is comfortable, encourage them to try a criss-cross pattern across the bat’s body, or a running stitch style that only goes through every other hole. Changing the pattern shifts the challenge and can help keep the activity fresh.

Go Texture Hunting

Swap the standard lace for something different – ribbon, chunky wool, thin twine, a pipe cleaner. Each material behaves differently in the hand and through the holes, giving children a slightly different sensory and physical experience each time. 

Bat Storytelling Prompt

Once the bat is fully laced and looking sharp, he needs a name and a story. Where does he live? What does he eat for dinner? Where does he go when the sun comes up? Children can narrate their story aloud, or use the bat as a character in a small world play scene alongside other animals. If you’re looking for more bat-themed fun to pair with it, the bat finger puppet makes a brilliant story companion.

Initial Sound Spotter

Time to get a bit of phonics in! While lacing, chat through things that begin with “b” – bat, bear, bug, ball etc. How many can your little learner come up with? Can they think of a ‘b’ word every time they thread a hole? 

Hang Him Up

Once laced, loop a piece of yarn through one of the holes at the top of a wing and hang your bat from a branch, a curtain rail, or a string across the room. A group of laced bats hanging in a row makes a gorgeous display – and there’s something very satisfying about seeing the finished work on show. If Halloween is on the horizon, pair this with some of our other Halloween printables for a full seasonal fine motor station.

More Bats, More Fun

If your little learner is on a bat theme kick, our Build A Bat Craft is a great next step – cutting, sticking and putting that bat back together helps develop a whole different set of skills. And if you want a bigger set of lacing cards to keep the threading station going, you might also want to check out the 11 Halloween Lacing Cards pack.

However you use this bat lacing card, I hope your little ones enjoy every loop of the lace.

Enjoy and let’s nurture those neurons!