Melissa and Doug Lacing Melissa and Doug Lace & Trace Farm Animals

Lace & Trace Farm Animals

by Melissa and Doug

$26.95 ~~$31.45~~ /

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Watch them go quiet with concentration as they guide the colourful laces through each sturdy wooden animal.

🧶 Strong Fingers – Builds the grip needed for holding pencils later.
🐮 5 Farm Friends – Double-sided wooden panels featuring classic barnyard animals.
🚗 Travel Ready – Compact and mess-free for car trips or cafes.

The Educator's Note

It's the ultimate 'cafe toy'—compact, quiet, and keeps hands busy while you finish your coffee.
Excellent value for money given the durability of the wooden panels compared to cardboard lacing cards.
It stealthily builds the fine motor skills required for writing without feeling like a lesson.

Play Specifications

🧒 3 years +

Recommended for ages 3 years +

🎨 Artist

Creative Expression

📖 Storyteller

Role Play & Imagination

🔇 Silent

No sound

🧳 Travel Friendly

Compact / Portable / Car-Friendly

👤 Independent Play

Solo / Self-Correcting

🏠 Indoor

Living Room / Playroom

🤏 Fine Motor

Precision & Grip

The Educator's Note

It's the ultimate 'cafe toy'—compact, quiet, and keeps hands busy while you finish your coffee.
Excellent value for money given the durability of the wooden panels compared to cardboard lacing cards.
It stealthily builds the fine motor skills required for writing without feeling like a lesson.

Play Specifications

🧒 3 years +

🎨 Artist

📖 Storyteller

🔇 Silent

🧳 Travel Friendly

👤 Independent Play

🏠 Indoor

🤏 Fine Motor

It's the silence that parents notice first. There's something deeply satisfying about pulling the lace through the hole, turning the board, and finding the next spot. It keeps hands busy and minds focused, making it a brilliant tool for settling down after active play or keeping calm in waiting rooms. Beyond the quiet moments, this is serious training for little hands. Threading and pulling builds the specific muscle coordination and pincer grip strength required for writing later on. It's a fun, frustration-free way to master the dexterity they'll need for school, typically clicking for children around 3 to 5 years.

Also available in a great value bundle

A staple for the toy cupboard that solves specific parenting challenges:

The Traveller: Needs a silent, self-contained activity for the backseat or plane tray table (ages 3-5).
The Pre-Writer: Needs to strengthen their hands for drawing but finds regular drills boring.
The Animal Lover: Will engage longer because they are interacting with their favourite barnyard friends.

The Joy of Mastering the Thread

It starts with a bit of fumbling—getting the stiffened tip of the lace into the hole. But once they grasp the rhythm—in, pull, over, in, pull—it becomes a mesmerising loop of activity. Each of the five wooden panels (Cow, Pig, Horse, Sheep, and Rooster) offers a new path to trace. They aren't just playing; they are learning to sequence their movements and predict where the lace needs to go next.

Building Strength for School

We talk a lot about 'school readiness', but often forget it starts in the fingers. Before a child can comfortably hold a pencil or cut with scissors, they need hand strength. This set acts like a gym for those tiny muscles. The resistance of the lace and the precision needed to target the holes strengthens the pincer grip, laying the groundwork for writing without them ever realising they're 'working'.

Designed for Real Life

Because the pieces are solid wood and the laces are thick, this set survives being dropped, tossed in a bag, or stepped on. It comes in a neat wooden storage tray, keeping all the pieces together. With the animal panels measuring approximately 15cm to 17cm wide, they are substantial enough for small hands to hold steady, yet compact enough to slide into a bag for emergency entertainment at a cafe.

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Lace & Trace Farm Animals

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Why gift givers choose this

Mess Free – No ink, no glue, and no small parts to lose under the sofa.
Quiet Focus – One of the few toys that naturally encourages silence and deep concentration.
Endlessly Reusable – Unlace in seconds and start all over again with a different colour pattern.
Durable Design – Solid wood panels that don't bend or fray like cardboard alternatives.