Tie Buddies - Review and Giveaway

Up to this point I hadn't considered teaching my preschool aged daughter how to tie her shoes. For one thing, she wears shoes with Velcro straps. Also, I myself learned to tie my shoes in kindergarten, and I guess I thought I'd wait until she turned 5 to start teaching her. I never realized that some younger kids do possess the motor skills needed to tie their own shoes, and a new product called Tie Buddies can help.

Just recently we had the chance to test out the girl version of Tie Buddies. According to the website children ages 3-9 can learn how to tie their shoes using this fast and easy method for teaching the tying skill. Tie Buddies are special tabs you thread onto the shoe laces. Children grasp the tabs and don't have to worry about making their own loops to tie the bow. By following the simple step-by-step directions provided on the packaging (a modified bunny-ear method), parents and educators can teach children how to tie faster and without as much confusion.

Since my 4-year-old daughter doesn't own any lace-up shoes, we put the Tie Buddies on a pair of her daddy's shoes. I slowly helped her through the steps and with a little assistance she excitedly made a bow. Even thought she lost interest after a few tries, the tabs did make the process of teaching tying a lot easier and more understandable. Within the next year I plan on purchasing a pair of lace-up shoes for her so she has a little more incentive to learn this essential skill. We will try the Tie Buddies again then. Just one point worth mentioning -- I tie my shoes using the one-loop method, so it took me a couple extra seconds to familiarize myself with the method used by Tie Buddies. Fellow FRN reviewer, The Mud Bug, has posted a great video if you want to see Tie Buddies in action.

Tie Buddies are available in two different styles:

Boy - Red and Green Race Cars (Blue Color)
Girl - Fairies and Magic Wand (Pink Color)

Each set retails for $7.95. Visit www.tiebuddies.com for more information. The Tie Buddies website features two special story ideas you can use to help your child remember the steps.

Win Tie Buddies! Tie Buddies has kindly offered to give one Brimful Curiosities reader a Tie Buddies package.

To enter, leave a comment letting me know which style (Boy or Girl) you'd like to own.

• For contact purposes, if you are a non-blogger or your email is not accessible in your blog profile, please leave a valid email address within the comment section.
• Contest is open to US only
• Contest ends on Monday, April 20th, 2009 at 11:59 PM CST.
• Winner will be chosen at random

Three ways to gain extra entries (Maximum total entries is 4):
1st extra entry: Follow Me! or subscribe by email or RSS reader
2nd extra entry: Blog about this contest then post your link in the comment section.
3rd extra entry: Follow me on twitter (iambrimful) and tweet about the contest.

Thanks to Family Review Network and Tie Buddies for this review opportunity!