Threading blocks & counting rope
Develop & practice dexterity & numeracy skills by creating these blocks & string.

Age Range: 3+
Duration: 1-2 hours
Location: anywhere
Time Of Day: any time
Season: any
Category: curriculum outdoors tool use & traditional crafts
Step 1
Buy or make some wooden counters with a hole through the middle. Look at our Guide to palm drills if you want more information about drilling your own counters.
You’ll also need a length of string with a slightly smaller diameter than the hole.
If you are making the drill holes yourself, use your drill directly down through the item onto a hard surface.
Step 2
Make a nice pile of wooden threading blocks.
Have fun threading the string or lace through the blocks.
Big threading
If you use a bigger drill, such as a carpenters drill and brace or an electric drill, then you can drill bigger blocks that can be threaded onto rope to create a bigger threading set.
Counting rope
If you alternate the blocks in sets of five, between shorter and longer blocks, or use different diameters, you can create a counting rope.