Baking Cup Button Slot

Ages:: Preschoolers (3 to 5)
Play time:: 10 to 15 minutes
Setup:: 10 minutes
Where:: Table

Why it helps

This activity is a wonderful way to boost your child's fine motor skills and hand strength. Pushing small buttons through narrow cup slits helps them learn the right amount of force to use. It also helps with matching colors and staying focused on a tricky task! Your child will love hearing the soft click as the buttons hit the cardboard.

Steps

Before play, stack two baking cups together for each slot so they are firm. Make four or five stacks.
Fold the bottom of each stack in half and snip a short cut into the fold, so it opens into a slit about as long as your buttons are wide.
Turn the stacks upside down and glue each one to a piece of cardboard by one side of the rim only, so you can lift the other side later. Let the glue dry.
Draw a different colored circle around each slit with markers.
Ask your child to find a button that matches the color of a circle.
Have them hold the cardboard steady with the helper hand and use their pinching fingers to push the button through the slit.
Listen for the soft tap as each button drops inside. When you finish, lift the loose side of each cup to tip the buttons out.

Safety tip: Buttons are a choking hazard, so stay close, keep them away from younger siblings, and count them at cleanup.

Make it easier

Cut the slits a little longer than the buttons so they drop through with a light push.
Use big, flat buttons, which are easier to line up with the slit.
Skip the color matching at first and let your child push any button into any cup.

Make it harder

Ask your child to pick up each button flat and turn it on its edge with their fingers before pushing it in.
Hold three buttons in the palm and bring them to the fingertips one at a time to post.
Use the non-dominant hand to push the buttons while the other hand steadies the board.

What to watch for

Notice whether your child lines the button up with the slit before pushing, or pushes first and adjusts.
Watch which fingers do the pushing. The thumb and pointer finger working together give the most control.
If pushing into tight slits gets frustrating, let your child drop buttons into open cups and sort them by color instead.

Where this helps in daily life

Turning a button on its edge and pushing it through a slit is the same skill kids need to button a shirt or coat, put coins in a piggy bank, and mail a letter.

These activities are for home practice and don't replace the guidance of a licensed therapist.