Learning to plait/braid is a skill that my 5-year-old has been working on for quite some time. This particular DIY activity with the coloured wool is work my daughter has been doing in her Montessori classroom that she chose to bring home to practice with a couple of days ago. This is much easier than trying to practice on my hair which she has been wanting to do.
There are four-strands of each colour wool tied together at the top, which measure to approx 19cm in length and held together by a small wooden clipboard. My daughter works in the sequence; green, red, then yellow. I have seen other DIY variations of this type of work as well as the Montessori braiding board which you can purchase, but this version is so quick and easy to set up.
Since bringing this plaiting/braiding work home, my daughter has been practicing trying to make the plait tighter each time. It’s one of those work activities that gets used over and over again. Now my youngest has seen this, he has been keen to give it a go as well.