Soft Centipede Motor Skills Toy - 6 Fastenings

Six fastenings to open and close, without the morning rush

Think of the ten minutes before leaving for nursery: coat on, zip stuck, patience running low on both sides. The centipede moves that struggle to a calmer moment. On the sofa, with nowhere to be, your child can run the zip up and down twenty times in a row, simply because it is satisfying.

The soft centipede motor skills toy carries six fastenings along its body, among them laces, buttons and a zip. Each one asks for a different gesture: sliding, pushing through, threading, pulling. Because the toy is soft, it can be held on the lap, squeezed under one arm or turned round to get a better angle, which a jacket being worn never allows.

Zip first, laces last: the order that works

The fastenings are not equally difficult, and it helps to offer them one at a time.

• The zip is the place to start. One hand holds the body still, the other pulls: the result is immediate and the movement is large.
• The buttons come next. Pushing a button through its hole means both hands doing different things at once, one pushing while the other pulls the edge over.
• The laces ask for the most precision: finding the end, threading it, pulling it tight.

Our advice when you present it: show one gesture slowly, without talking over it, then hand the centipede across and step back. Expect undoing to come long before doing up. A child who has cheerfully unfastened everything and walked off has still been practising, and fastening it all again yourself for the next session takes a minute.

What the fingers learn, and how it reaches real clothes

Every fastening trains something specific. The button calls on the pinch between thumb and index finger. The zip teaches one hand to steady while the other acts. The laces demand that the eyes guide the fingertips. And all of them teach patience: a button that will not go through is a small, safe lesson in trying again.

The skill carries over to clothes more quickly if you make the link out loud. When your child has managed the centipede's zip, point to the one on their own cardigan: "It's the same one. Do you want to try?" Then give them the time to do it, even if it makes you two minutes late.

Is it for babies? What the 0m+ rating means

The manufacturer rates this toy 0m+, so it may be given from birth. Be clear about what that means, though: a baby will not learn to dress from it. In the first months it is a soft, light character to touch and look at with you. The fastenings come into their own later, on the day your child starts insisting on doing things "by myself". If you are choosing for the very first months, our Montessori toys for babies include toys designed around grasping and the senses.

As with anything that has laces and buttons, stay close while the youngest children play, and look the toy over before each use, as the manufacturer asks.

170 g of practice for the car or the waiting room

At 16 x 16 x 16 cm and 170 g, the centipede weighs less than most picture books and fits in a changing bag. Being soft, it makes no noise when it falls on a surgery floor and does no harm when it is dropped on a little brother. It is one of the few dressing activities you can hand to a child strapped into a car seat.

How it differs from a wooden frame or a lacing shoe

A wooden dressing frame isolates a single fastening and lies flat on a table: it is precise, but you need one frame per fastening and somewhere to store them. A lacing shoe concentrates on one skill only, threading laces through eyelets. The soft centipede motor skills toy takes the opposite route: six fastenings on a single toy that goes wherever your child goes. It makes a good first overview; a child who gets hooked on laces can then move on to the shoe. You will find more ideas for busy fingers among our fine motor skills toys.

Questions about the soft centipede

What fastenings does the centipede have?

Six in all, spread along its body. They include laces, buttons and a zip.

What does a child learn from the fastenings?

The gestures of getting dressed: sliding a zip, pushing a button through its hole, threading and tightening a lace. Along the way they work on fine motor skills, on using both hands together and on patience.

Is it suitable for babies?

Yes, the manufacturer rates it 0m+. For a baby it is a soft toy to explore with an adult nearby; the fastenings become the point of the game later on.

How big and how heavy is the soft centipede?

It measures 16 x 16 x 16 cm and weighs 170 g, light enough for a small child to carry about and for you to slip into a bag.

Specifications

• Soft centipede with 6 fastenings, including laces, buttons and a zip
• Manufacturer's age rating: 0m+
• Dimensions: 16 x 16 x 16 cm
• Weight: 170 g
• Reference: REFL5523
• 2-year guarantee

Warning: Check for defects before each use. Please retain this information.