String Figures Game — Cat's Cradle Loop

Parent guides: How to Teach a Child to Hold a Pencil: Grip Stages by Age and Activities That Help · Brain Games for Kids by Age: 2, 3, 4–5, 6–7 and 8+

1. Loop the string over both hands and spread your fingers.
2. Follow one figure at a time, slowly, until your hands remember it.
3. Pull your hands apart to tighten the shape and see it clearly.
4. To play with someone, lift the figure off their hands onto yours.
5. Keep passing it back and forth, changing the shape each time.

• Finger dexterity and independent finger movement
• Following a sequence of steps in order, with no shortcuts
• Patience — a figure that collapses has to be started again
• Playing with another person, hands to hands

• Learn one figure properly before adding another
• Teach a figure to someone else, which is the real test of knowing it
• Take it on journeys — it fits in a pocket and needs nothing else