This happy rock tune is catchy AND teaches a valuable life skill: how to tie your shoes! We've pooled our collective experiences and found a simple eight line rhyme that outlines the steps for tying shoes. We use this as the spoken chorus of the song and repeat it to reinforce. Each line has the same number of syllables so the rhythm is consistent.

The verse of the song asks the question "Can you...?" with spoken responses answering in different ways. After you practice the tying rhyme, the verse changes to "You can tie..." then, "I can tie..." with positive comments throughout. Learning to tie can be so frustrating at times, so we opted to put as much fun as possible into the song. Feel free, as always, to change the kids' spoken responses in the verse.

Try having your kids decide before you sing the song how they will answer the question, "Can you tie your own shoes?" Let it be their answer!

To further enhance the learning experience, we have included step-by-step illustrations with the lyrics on page 57.

Online extras - You will also find a reproducible download of just the illustrated guide under the "Graphics and Extras" for Volume 16, No. 3 at MusicK8.com