The Coat Flip
What you need
- their small coat with the zip undone and no drawstring or ties at the neck or hood, and your own coat
How to do it
- Before you go out, lay their coat open on a rug or carpet, hood by their toes.
- Show them with your own coat first: arms in, then up over your head.
- Let them crouch at the hood end, push both arms in, then stand and flip, and see what they do.
- Start the zip for them and let them pull it up.
Why it matters
Laid out with the hood by their feet, the coat lands the right way up after the flip, so the putting on is all theirs.
What they're learning
- Dressing
- Getting their own coat on, start to finish, apart from the zip.
- Arm swing
- Lifting both arms up and over together.
- Doing it themselves
- A grown-up job done the toddler way.
What to look for
Notice them checking the hood is by their toes before they push their arms in.
A tip
Flip on a rug or carpet, or outdoors on dry ground, in shoes or bare feet, never socks on a smooth floor. Choose a coat with no drawstring or ties at the neck or hood, and a clear space away from walls and the stairs. If the coat ends up upside down, lay it out again with the hood touching their toes.
Make it easier or harder
Easier: lift the coat over their head with them, your hands under theirs
Harder: let them lay the coat out on the floor themselves before they flip it
