Busy board — laces, buckles, clock and calendar

A felt book of the fastenings a child has to beat before they can dress themselves — a real zip, real buttons, a belt with a buckle and a shoe with a lace to tie — plus a clock and calendar page for when those are conquered.

What it builds

• Dressing without help: buttoning, zipping, buckling and lacing, each on its own so nothing else gets in the way
• The pincer grip and the two-handed pull that a zip actually needs
• Time and sequence — the hands move, and the days, months and seasons are in order beside them
• Doing it again, because a board that fastens can always be unfastened

Why we stock it

A three-year-old learning to button a coat is doing it in a hallway, late, with an adult waiting. Here the same button is flat on a table, at their own speed, and getting it wrong costs nothing. The clock and calendar page is why it stays out after the dressing is learned — it is the part a five-year-old still uses.

The details

Age

3 and up

Format

Felt book, folds shut, carry handles

Dressing

Zip, buttons, snaps, velcro, buckles, belt, laces

Learning

Clock, days, months, seasons, weather

Pages

Alphabet with animals, and a dinosaur scene

Loose pieces

Yes — the jigsaw lifts out

Power

None. No batteries, no sound.

In the box

The board, folded shut with everything fastened inside, and the jigsaw in its pocket. Nothing to assemble and nothing to charge — it works the moment it is out of the wrapping.

Care

Sponge it with a little soap and cold water and let it dry flat, out of the sun. Do not put it in the machine; the felt goes stiff and the stitched pieces pull. Count the jigsaw back in before it folds shut, because those are the pieces that go missing.