When the season of blustering winds and snowstorms kick in, warm wool sweaters and puffy winter coats take up a big part of the wardrobe. When kids grow up, they might insist to become more independent when it comes to self-dressing.
In today’s fast-paced world, it might be unrealistic to wait 5 to 10 minutes for children to have their coats zipped up. Read on below to know more about the crucial milestones that lead up to zippering coats together with some of the activities you can try to encourage your little ones to become more independent when it comes to using zippers made from different materials available in different colors.
Required Skills for the Task
It is a complicated yet functional skill for children to manage learning how to zipper their jackets. Coat zipping is one intricate process of motor planning that requires important fine motor skills. Zippering coats also require bringing the hands to the midline with one hand holding the zipper chamber down while the zipper is being pulled up. Prerequisite skills for using zippers include the following:
- Bilateral coordination
- Eye-hand coordination
- Finger isolation
- Pincer grasp and strength
- Puts small object into a tiny container
- Rotates forearm with the palm facing up
- Tripod grasp
- Uses two hands in midline
- Strings at least one small bead
- Strings three toddler-sized beads
Developmental Milestones of Self-dressing
Here is the usual timeframe for children’s self-dressing.
- 18 Months to 2 Years
Zipper skills are emerging by unzipping the zipper with a large tab, and pulling up bigger zipper tabs if an adult is holding the bottom.
- 2 Years
The child learns to unbutton a large button measuring one inch.
- 2 ½ to 3 ½ Years
Child buttons three large buttons but the order is not necessarily correct. The child might unzip and unsnap the clothing while it is still on.
- 3 to 4 ½ Years
The child learns to close the front snap with the clothing on and can also unbutton and button while wearing clothing with a front opening.
- 4 ½ to 5 Years
The kid can already open all the fasteners on all articles of clothing.
- 5 to 6 Years
It is around this age that kids can already hook a zipper and zip it up with the clothing still on.
Perfection Takes Practice
Zipper practice should start with the sweatshirt or coat off. With a hand over hand guidance, help your kid visualize and feel how to hook together the zipper’s two sides. Include other activities between in practices such as putting coins in the piggybank, stringing beads, or dropping buttons to a container with a slit.
Your child will surely feel some sense of success and accomplishment after their very first experience of coat zipping. Coat zippering will obviously take lots of practice, so be sure to allot 5 to10 minutes every morning for your kid to explore the zipper on her or his coat. But, the most important thing here is to be patient!
