The Ian Knot for Kids: When It Helps and When to Wait

You have watched your child re-tie the same floppy bow three times while the school bus idles at the curb. Then you saw a video of a man tying a shoelace in one flick of the wrists, and wondered whether that trick could end the morning stall.

That trick is the Ian Knot, invented by Australian software developer Ian Fieggen, better known online as Professor Shoelace. If you have been looking up the Ian Knot for kids, here is the honest answer before anything else: it is a wonderful knot, and it is not a beginner knot.

The finished bow is identical to the one your child is already trying to make. What changes is the route the hands take to get there. Both hands work at the same moment, doing mirrored versions of the same movement, with no natural place to stop and think.

For a child who already ties a dependable bow, this is a fun upgrade and a real time saver. For a five-year-old still hunting for the second bunny ear, it is a frustrating detour that can dent hard-won confidence. Below: who it suits, who should wait, and how to teach it when the timing is right.

What the Ian Knot Actually Is

Ian Fieggen published this method on Ian's Shoelace Site, where he calls it the world's fastest shoelace knot. The knot, the name and that claim are all his. We are passing his method along, not presenting it as ours, and his original photo sequence and video live at Ian's Shoelace Site.

Here is the part that surprises most parents. The Ian Knot does not create a special or stronger knot. It creates the same bow as the loop-around-and-through method your child is already attempting, and it holds just as well.

What differs is the path. A standard bow builds the loops one at a time: make a loop, wrap the other lace around it, push it through, pull. The Ian Knot builds both loops at once, then passes them through each other in one crossing motion.

Fewer steps, then, but each step carries more weight. Fieggen also notes that the knot is symmetrical, so it behaves the same way for left-handed and right-handed tiers.

Why It Is Genuinely Hard for Young Children

Fast and simple are not the same thing as easy. Three features of this knot make real trouble for small hands.

Both hands work at once, in mirror image. The left hand shapes a loop one way while the right hand shapes the opposite loop at the same time. That is a demanding bilateral coordination task, and it asks for something quite different from the take-turns rhythm most children learn first. Our guide to bilateral coordination and shoe tying unpacks why that distinction matters so much.

There is no pause built in. Bunny ears has natural resting points. A child can make one ear, stop, breathe, look at it, and then make the second. The Ian Knot removes those rest stops on purpose, because removing them is what makes it fast. A child who is still narrating the steps out loud has nowhere to put the narration.

It is hard to watch. Demonstrated at full speed, the interesting part happens behind the fingers. Children learn tying largely by copying, and a move they cannot see clearly is a move they cannot copy.

Who the Ian Knot for Kids Is Right For

Age is a rough guide rather than a rule, but a useful starting point is around eight years and up.

This knot tends to land well with:

• Children who already tie a standard bow reliably, without adult help, on a real shoe
• Children roughly eight and older who are motivated by speed, tricks, or showing a friend something new
• Older children who tie competently but slowly, and feel self-conscious about it on a sideline
• Kids who enjoy taking something they already do well and making it faster

Hold off, and teach a standard method first, if:

• Your child is under about seven, or still needs prompting to finish a bow
• Bunny ears is halfway learned and going reasonably well — switching methods mid-stream usually costs progress
• Your child gets discouraged quickly when a new skill does not click in the first few tries
• Fine motor work in general is still effortful, in which case the bunny ears method is the kinder place to build from

Ian's Shoelace Site notes that children as young as seven have picked the knot up and taught it to friends, so some younger children really do manage it. The point is that mastering a bow first turns this into a bonus rather than a hurdle. For readiness more broadly, see our guide on when a child should learn to tie shoes.

What to Have in Place Before You Start

Sit beside your child rather than across from them, so your hands move in the same direction as theirs.

Use long, slightly stiff laces on a shoe your child is not wearing. Flat cotton laces grip; thin round athletic laces slither out of a pinch. A pair of two-color laces helps enormously here, because each hand owns a color and you can say “your red loop goes through the blue loop” instead of “that one, no, the other one.”

Pick a calm moment. A quiet weekend afternoon on the living room floor beats three rushed hallway attempts.

How to Teach the Ian Knot Step by Step

This is the adult method with the pauses added back in. Teach each step until it is boring, then join two steps together, then three. Do not chase the full-speed version on day one.

Step 1: A snug starting knot

Cross the left lace over the right, tuck it under and pull both ends firm. Stop and check it. A loose starting knot collapses the moment the loops are pulled through, and most failed attempts trace back here rather than to anything later.

Step 2: The left hand makes a loop with its tail in front

Your child holds the left lace between the thumb and index finger of the left hand and forms a loop, loose end hanging toward their body. Pause. Say the cue out loud: tail in front.

Step 3: The right hand makes a loop with its tail behind

Now the right hand forms its loop the opposite way, with the loose end pointing away from the body. Pause again. Two loops sit in front of your child with their tails pointing opposite ways. That opposition is the whole secret of the knot.

Step 4: Bring the loops together

Move the hands toward each other until the loops overlap, right loop in front of left. Nothing is pulled through yet. Freeze here. Most children pull before the loops line up.

Step 5: Trade the loops

Each hand reaches through the other loop, pinches the far lace, and lets go of its own loop at the same instant. Then both hands pull apart. The loops swap places by passing through each other, and the bow appears. Adults do this in one motion; a learner should break it into “reach through, pinch, let go, pull.”

Step 6: Tighten and inspect

Pull the loops until the bow sits flat and square across the shoe. A crooked bow usually means a loose starting knot, or one loop pulled harder than the other.

Practice That Actually Builds the Skill

The Ian Knot for kids works best when practice targets the specific move that is hard, rather than repeating the whole sequence and hoping.

Drill the two loops on their own. No starting knot, no pulling through — just form both loops at once, ten times, until the mirrored hand shapes feel automatic. This is the piece that carries the difficulty, and isolating it is standard practice in a good task analysis of shoe tying.

Then run the swap by itself, slowly, with you holding one loop while your child manages the other. Once each half is comfortable, put them back together and let speed arrive on its own. It will, faster than you expect.

Keep sessions short. Five focused minutes beats twenty minutes of mounting frustration.

Common Snags and Quick Fixes

The bow falls apart on the first tug. The starting knot was loose. Go back to step one and make it firm before anything else happens.

The loops will not pass through each other. Both loops were probably made the same way. Check that one tail points forward and the other points back.

One loop vanishes during the swap. The hand released too early. Slow down the trade and say the cue: pinch first, then let go.

The bow ends up crooked or vertical. One side was pulled harder. Pull both hands evenly, straight out to the sides.

When to Set It Aside and Come Back Later

If three or four short sessions pass with no progress, stop. Nothing is wrong with your child and nothing is wrong with the knot; the timing is simply off. Come back in a few months.

Going back to a method with built-in pauses is not a step backward. Plenty of children learn a bow at seven, add speed at nine, and never think about it again. If tying itself is the sticking point, our post on what to do when an older child still cannot tie shoes goes deeper.

Frequently Asked Questions

What age can a child learn the Ian Knot?

Around eight and up is a sensible target, and the real prerequisite is a bow your child can already tie unaided. Ian's Shoelace Site notes some children have managed it at seven, so treat age as a guide and readiness as the test.

Is the Ian Knot more secure than a normal bow?

No. The finished knot is the same bow, so it holds the same way. Fieggen offers a separate method, his Secure Shoelace Knot, for laces that come undone constantly.

Does it work for left-handed children?

Yes, and this is one of its nicer features. Because both hands do mirrored work, the knot is symmetrical and needs no reversing for a left-handed child, unlike some step-by-step methods.

Should my child learn bunny ears or the Ian Knot first?

Bunny ears first, in almost every case. It has pauses, it is easy to watch, and it gives a child a working bow quickly. The Ian Knot is the speed upgrade that comes afterward.

My child keeps ending up with a knot instead of a bow. What went wrong?

Usually one loop was formed the wrong way round, so the tails point the same direction and the loops jam instead of trading places. Slow the two loop steps down and check the tails before pulling.

A Little Help With the Foundation

The Ian Knot for kids is a lovely destination. The route there runs through a solid, dependable bow, and that is where most families need support.

The Training Ties shoe tying tool was built for that stretch: it holds the laces steady so a child can see and feel each step without the whole thing collapsing between attempts. Once the bow is automatic, the Ian Knot becomes the fun extra your child teaches to a friend at recess. Full credit for the knot belongs to Ian Fieggen, whose site is still the best place to watch it tied.