Dress Up Buddy

My son puts on his own clothes and jacket, socks and shoes now. He is very determined to do these things on his own. As a parent, I wish I had a way for him to practice more often. (It sure would speed up our mornings a little bit more - LOL!)

 

So, how is a 2 yr old to practice these fine motor life skills more often? Well, he plays with dolls, yes. However, he's not into putting dresses on them. They also aren't going to do much for him with the clothes/jackets he's wearing now.

 

And that's when this idea came to me ...

I cut out a cardboard "buddy" approx. 2-3T - just like my son.

 

I thought he'd like being able to put his own clothes on his cardboard buddy. It will also give him more practice with the close he's wearing now.

For some added fun, I cut out some eyes, glasses, noses, mustaches and mouths. I adhered Velcro to the cardboard and to the facial parts. I-Bell couldn't wait to try it out!

Close-up

Here's an outfit we put on the buddy while D was sleeping.

We picked out clothes that had zippers, snaps, buttons, etc.

Then we set the clothes up with "Buddy."

D picked the clothes and had a blast. 

Snaping

Zipping

Buttoning

And zipping some more.

Overall, this is one happy little boy. He loves his dress up buddy. He named it after his sister, Lucille♥