Need Help Teaching My 3+ Year-old to Do Buttons, Zippers, Etc.

Hey D.,

I own a Montessori School and one of the practical life activities is buttoning, zippering, snapping, etc. You can go on to any search engine and type in Montessori Materials and then look into practical life activities and you should see these dressing boards. They can range in price from 9.99 each to 15.00 dollars so shop around. They are great because unlike the dressing dolls they are real buttons, real zippers, etc. made for teaching everyday life skills. The kids love them and they come in different variations. For your three year old I would start with the large button size until his fine motor skills are developed and then go smaller as he learns. If you have any other questions just message me I would love to help out.

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Hi D., if you check out discountschoolsupply.com they have many of those types of learning toys that are age appropriate.

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use your sons clothes and put it on a big stuffed animal and the shoes as well that is what i did with my daughters and now they have not problems,i also sat the toy between ther legs and made them do it as if the pants and shirt were on them,and i never made than do it it was only for fun

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D.,

yes, there is a catalog called young explorer and yes, there is a dress up doll that teaches how to do all those things.

let me know if you get it and how it works, i haven't bought it yet for my 1 yr old (too young)

nikki

Dapper Dan is what you are looking for. you can probably find it online at amazon.com or toys r us.

That's great D.. My 4 year old was attempting to learn to do buttons and zippers and has accomplished them by watching us doing it and showing him how to do from his position. We (mostly my husband) kept encouraging him to do it and he does both now. Tying shoe he has tried but when I tried showing him, he showed he was not interested and I think it is because it has more steps involved to do so. I am not pushing him because he has shown interests to dress himself and stuff that I don't worry about tying his shoes. Just keep encouraging and praising him and he'll eventually do more things on his own.

I recently was at the Parent Teacher Store in Kingston. They have dolls which teaches children how to dress, buttons, snaps, etc. below is a link to the dolls on their website....

http://catalog.parentteacherstore.com/early_childhood_dex...

if you have problems connecting here is another way to get there...

http://catalg.parentteacherstore.com/
go to Early Childhood, then click on Dexterity Skills

Discovery Toys also has what's called a "Dress-a-Pillar". Here's a link to my website if you;re interested in checking it out: www.discoverytoyslink.com/JodyFBrown
It's item #2268 and it sells for $19.99.

If your son is interested you can just put a button-shirt on his teddy bear and let him practive getting the bear dressed. Or let him play dress up with some of your clothes. It works with socks too. The larger sized clothes make the task easier until their fingers get the hang of it, and then they can button or zip their own clothes.

Anyway, it is and more personal and fun to dress up your bear than play with a toy he might just toss in the corner.

I remember the good old "Dapper Dan" doll used for learning those fine motor skills. Also, I remember when my sons were little, we'd sing the song from Sesame St. that sort of went like this; "One day, one hap, hap, happy day..... I'm gonna do it by myself, oh yeah....." for motivation. (I miss those fun, happy days!)Good luck to your wee one. Have lots of fun with it. :)
D. N. xo

I totally remember the doll you are talking about, but haven't seen one in years. Check out this link, it may provide the same learning as the doll once did.

http://www.toysandgamesonline.com/asp/show_detail.asp?sku...

GL.

Little young for shoe tying (that's usually a kindergarden age skill). Playschool toys use to have a couple dolls called Dressy Bessy and Dapper Dan. I used them to teach the kids to buckle, zip, snap, button, and try to tie. I don't know if they make them anymore but if you can locate them (maybe ebay?) they are the best.

I saw the Melissa and Doug one at Toys R Us. That looked like a great starting point. I recall it had all kinds of things on it. Good luck!

We have the Dressy Bessy for my daughter. It has helped especially with doing buttons, which are extra-large for little fingers. Here is the boy version:

http://www.amazon.com/Playskool-Dapper-Dan/dp/B000VQ27PY

http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Deluxe-Lacing-Sneaker/...

This is the Melissa and doug one, but it's only for shoelaces.

http://www.amazon.com/Ks-Kids-96004-Learning-Shoe/dp/B000...

This one has everything- shoelaces, zipper, button, velcro