Get jacket on
A jacket zipper has two halves that need to meet at the bottom before anything can be pulled up, and that move is not always equally easy two days in a row. The visual support below shows the whole motion.
♂Boy putting on jacket
A boy putting on a blue jacket.
About this visual support
Meeting the two halves of a zipper at the bottom is a concrete fine-motor task that shifts with the day. One morning the pin glides straight into the slider, the next morning it simply will not. That is not carelessness on the child's part – fingers and gaze do not always work at the same speed, especially when it is early, cold or rushed.
When the visual support breaks the steps apart – arms into sleeves, gather the two halves, insert the pin, pull up – the child gets a grid to work inside. It becomes easier to see which step is the sticky one today, and easier for an adult to take over precisely that step without the whole jacket turning into a failure.
Concrete tip: ask the child to rest the bottom edge of the jacket against the thigh while inserting the pin into the slider. The firm surface stabilises the lower end of the zipper so both hands can focus on lining up the halves. If you need a place that gathers the morning's clothes from socks to hat, Routined fits the role. The app has a 14-day trial.