Living Montessori Now

Information and Inspiration for Parents and Teachers

Activity of the Week – Teach Your Preschooler to Put on and Put Away a Coat

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How to Put on a Coat (Photo from The Montessori Child at Home)

How to Put on a Coat (Photo from The Montessori Child at Home)

Putting on a Coat

The daycare center where I first taught as well as every Montessori school I taught at used the same technique for showing preschoolers how to put on a coat independently. The technique requires the child to lay out a coat upside down on the floor, put both arms in the sleeves, and flip the coat over his or her head. If you aren’t familiar with how to teach the technique, The Montessori Child at Home has photos and directions.

Working toward independence is extremely important for your child, and putting on a coat independently is one way your preschooler can feel competent. If you work with a group of preschoolers, the technique is also invaluable for saving time when you’re getting ready to go outdoors.

How to Put a Coat on a Hanger (Photo from The Montessori Child at Home)

How to Put a Coat on a Hanger (Photo from The Montessori Child at Home)

Putting a Coat on a Hanger

Preschoolers also need to be shown how to put a coat on a hanger. In another post, The Montessori Child at Home has photos and directions for showing a child how to put a coat on a hanger and hang the coat in a closet.

Fun Shoe and Coat Tricks 

fun-shoe-and-coat-tricks-for-toddler-and-preschooler-independence

Fun Shoe and Coat Tricks for Toddler and Preschooler Independence (includes helpful video and poem)

My questions: The only preschool teaching experience I had in which the children weren’t shown the technique for putting on a coat was my master’s degree school placement at a day nursery in England. I’d love to hear the experiences of preschool teachers and parents in other countries. Is this technique used throughout the world or mainly in the U.S.? For all teachers and parents of preschoolers, have you used this technique with your own child or preschool students?

 

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  1. We do this at my school! When the head teacher first showed me the technique, I thought it was absolutely genius! It certainly does save time in getting ready, and the children love to do it. It takes a while for them to remember that the hood (or collar) needs to be pointing at them, and we often have the toddlers ending up with their coat upside down! Sometimes the control of error doesn’t quite work, because they don’t realise it’s on the wrong way. It’s cute and hilarious, but we take it off and help them to try again. Sometimes even my 4-yr olds make the mistake if they’re in a rush.

    As far as the coat hanger, I actually taught my children to hang their coats on a hanger already hanging, b/c of where the hangers are (hanging to the bottom of a wire shelf). They’ve become quite good at it. 🙂

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    • Thanks for your comment, Melissa! It does usually take a few times for children to remember which way to lay out their coat, doesn’t it?! Once they have it mastered, it’s amazing how much quicker getting ready to go outside is, though! 🙂

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  2. We just taught this to Georgia over the weekend! The over-the-head method was really easy for her to pick up, though she still has a little problem with actually getting it over her head unassisted. But she’s working on it, little by little getting better at it. We taught Georgia to put her coat away by hanging it over her chair, since our closet is WAY too tall for her to put it away independently that way. She hangs it nicely on her chair, and then I go later and put it in the closet for her.

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    • It’s so great that you’re teaching that technique to Georgia already! We added a child-height bar to our closet underneath the main bar for our children’s clothes when they were little. It was a bar that could be added and removed later (although we always kept a lower bar for extra storage from then on anyway! 🙂

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  3. Deb – you’re an angel for posting this. I’ve been trying to teach my boys how to put on and take off their own coats and it just isn’t clicking. It amazes me how I take some “easy” tasks for granted. This just might be the help I need to teach it right. Thank you!

    p.s. We just remodeled our classroom. I’m sooo happy now. 🙂

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  4. What a beautiful blog! What an incredibly competent lady to teach a method that embodies beauty, dignity, and value of and for children! Thank you for sharing yourself in this way, Deb! ;0)

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  5. I showed my daughter this method when she was one and a half. We used to say ” caterpillar, caterpillar” for each arm going in to the arm hole and then “o-ver your head”. She loved it and now she is three she’s watched the older kids putting on their coats the older way and is now able to do it like that. She can also do up her zipper(depending on the jacket) and is ohh soo proud!

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    • Thanks so much for your comment – I love your story and the “caterpillar, caterpillar o-ver your head”! What a great way to teach your daughter at such a young age. It’s awesome that she can even zip up her coat herself now – impressive! 🙂

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  7. We have a saying that goes, “Tag at your toes, Hands in the holes and Flip!” By showing the kids that the tag of their coat should be in front of their feet and the arm holes of the coat sleeves are easily accessible.

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