Coats!

[Onawhim]

Someone has gotta have a good way to teach a child to put on their coat I have 1 out of 5 dcks that can do it themselves. Teach me how to teach them!

[hope]

I have them put it on the floor in front of them with the neck part close to them. They put their arms in the sleeves and pull the coat over their head. It makes it fun and they want to do it. Many times i will line all the coats up in a line and do this as a game.

[craftymissbeth]

If it has a hood, I put the hood on their head and then they have an easier way to feel for their arms without it getting all jumbled and tangled up. My dcb3 now puts the hood on first by himself and then puts his arms in.

[kendallina]

I have them put it on the floor in front of them with the neck part close to them. They put their arms in the sleeves and pull the coat over their head. It makes it fun and they want to do it. Many times i will line all the coats up in a line and do this as a game.

This is how I do it too. The kids love it and it makes my life much easier.

[daycarediva]

I have them put it on the floor in front of them with the neck part close to them. They put their arms in the sleeves and pull the coat over their head. It makes it fun and they want to do it. Many times i will line all the coats up in a line and do this as a game.

Even my young 2 can do it this way. We call it the flip trick!

[permanentvacation]

Putting a coat on the floor with the hood/head of the coat at the child's feet and having the child bend over, put their arms in the coat and then flipping the coat over their heads is called the Montessori Method. Maria Montessori developed many ways for special needs children to be able to do things for themselves that they typically would not be able to do like a typical child would. She later discovered that children who were not special needs, but were a bit young to be able to do certain things themselves could use the 'tricks' or techniques to be able to do things that older children were able to do.

A typical 2 year old is almost incapable of putting a coat on the typical way a 5 year old would; by holding the coat with one hand while putting the other arm one sleeve, pulling the coat around their back, and putting the second arm in it's sleeve. But, if the coat was placed on the floor with the head of the coat at the child's feet, a typical 2 year old COULD put their coat on for himself.

There are a lot of Montessori techniques that people use to get younger kids to do things they are really too young to do. Another example is tying shoes by making 'bunny ears' with the shoelaces. A special needs child might have difficulty with the traditional way of tying shoes. A young child might also have the same difficulties. But, many special needs kids and young typical children are able to tie their shoes by making bunny ears by putting both shoelaces in a loop and then tying the loops together.

Montessori has an entire way of teaching that is different than traditional educational methods. You can Google 'Montessori' to learn about the many methods and teaching styles they use.