Fine-Motor Horse Craft

by Christina Reif · October 5, 2015

My middle son loves horses. He really loves to mimic horse whinnies very, very loudly. And he loves to gallop toy ones everywhere. So I took that as a sign that he wanted to learn more about horses. So that we did.

As part of our exploration about horses, one thing we did was this fun fine-motor horse craft. I really love how it turned out and the knot-tying it encouraged.

First, I found a free horse clip art from ClipArtBest.com and I erased the tail. You can access my file here:

Knot Tying Horse Template

I printed it on cardstock, cut it out roughly, and gave it to the kids to color as they wished.

Once it was colored, I punched a hole for the tail, and a long rectangle for the mane.

Then with whatever color they chose, the kids had to thread the yarn through the holes and tie a simple knot to stay in place.

And it was challenging for them, in a good way. The four year olds I had doing this were pretty good with the threading (though they each had trouble at some time or another), and they both struggled at first with the tying, but by the end were making quality knots.

The two year olds I had doing this were not quite as adept, but my 2 1/2 year old was able to thread most of the pieces of yarn, and then I tied them for him.

I did 4 strands for the tail and about 7 strands for the mane. A few more for the mane would have been nice, but by that time, they were all tiring of the knots.

All in all, I thought it turned out really cute, and I love that it wasn’t just a craft, there were some life skills thrown in there, too! Score one for momma!