Free Shoe-Tying Guide for Teachers & OTs

Teach Shoe-Tying in 5 Steps

The backward-chaining method — teach the last step first, so every child ends on a win. A free classroom guide from Bobby Morong, 20-year special-education teacher and inventor of Training Ties®. Print it, share it with your team — no strings.

Why backward chaining? Kids get frustrated when they do all the hard work and an adult finishes the bow. Flip it: you do the early steps, and the child does the final step and feels the success. Then hand over one more step at a time, working backward. Confidence builds with every try.

Step 5 — Pull the bunny ears tight.

Start here. You build the whole bow; the child does only this last tug and lands the win. Celebrate it like it's a big deal — because to them, it is.

Step 4 — Cross the loops & tuck one through.

Now hand the child this step plus the final pull. You set up everything before it.

Step 3 — Make two “bunny ear” loops.

The child forms both loops and finishes the bow. You tie only the starting knot.

Step 2 — Tie the starting knot (cross & pull under).

The child does the knot and the whole bow from here. You just position the laces.

Step 1 — Line up the laces, one in each hand.

Now the child owns all five steps, start to finish. That's independence — and they earned it one step at a time.

Teacher tip: Practice on a real shoe, not a board — the skill transfers better. A checkpoint tool that holds the laces in place (like Training Ties®) lets kids practice each step without the bow falling apart. About 90% of kids succeed in their first session.

Free to print and share with your team. Tip: use your browser's Print option (Ctrl/Cmd + P) to make a clean classroom copy.

More free resources on the Training Ties blog. If the checkpoint tool would help your students or clients, you can find it here.

Training Ties® · Made in the USA · Created by Bobby Morong, former special-education & adaptive PE teacher