How to Practice Buttoning Skills with this Simple DIY

How are independent dressing and buttoning skills going in your house? Not so good? Everything except for snaps, ties, and buttons?

Well, this simple DIY will get your little independent toddler buttoning in no time.

We have been slowly giving Ruby (now two) a little more responsibility when it comes to dressing. It doesn’t always go very smoothly.

There are definitely times she fights us and says, “Mommy’s turn” before even attempting herself.

So, in an attempt to avoid some toddler tantrums, I wanted to practice buttoning skills without the dressing part.

I find that when I can incorporate learning in a playful way, it takes away the power struggle and makes learning fun.

This super simple DIY was the perfect idea for helping my toddler with those important buttoning skills.

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The Materials

I actually had all the materials at my house, so it was really easy and didn’t cost me anything. The materials themselves are super affordable.

What you need:

Ribbon
Large buttons
Hot glue gun
Felt squares
Scissors

I will link them here for your convenience:

The Process

First I hot glued the buttons onto the ends of the ribbon. I made this a color activity as well by using blue buttons and purple buttons.

I also had purple felt and blue felt in various shades. You could use this buttoning activity as a color sequencing activity too by asking your child to button the colors from darkest to lightest or lightest to darkest.

After I hot glued the buttons on the ends of the ribbon, I cut slits in the felt by folding them in half from corner to corner and cutting a slit long enough for the button to go through easily.

That’s it! Now once you have the materials ready, how do you present the materials?

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Here are a few Presentation Ideas:

First, you could present in the easiest way with only one color and one already on the ribbon.

You can demonstrate (very slowly) buttoning skills by putting the button through the slit and pulling it through with the other hand. Then also demonstrate how to pull the felt to the other side.

Next, you can present the buttoning practice activity by presenting just one color but without the piece of felt already on. You can present the colors randomly or in order from darkest to lightest or lightest to darkest.

You can add extra challenge by asking your child to button the felt from darkest to lightest or from lightest to darkest.

The final way to present this buttoning practice activity is to present both colored buttons and the colors mixed up. This way you can have your child sort the colors and then practice buttoning.

Final Thoughts

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think this DIY is going to magically get your child to dress themselves overnight, but it will definitely help practice buttoning skills in a playful, low pressure way.