The humble button

I was ordering some school supplies the other day and added these to my cart.

These little beauties supply hours of fun...

 

 

 sorting

 

Dumping

 

 

Pushing

 

 

Observing

 



Working together

Lest you think buttons are just for fun play, they are a terrific teaching tool too.  They encourage:

• fine motor skills {index/thumb grasping, stacking}
• sorting skills by size and color
• observational skills {details of the patterns, number of holes, edges, shape, texture}
• color recognition {beyond red, yellow, blue, like aqua, magenta, gold, silver}

You can play games with buttons too like "I Spy", or "Hide the Button", or "Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?"  Then, of course, you can teach the ever so basic skill of sewing a button onto a piece of fabric. 
 
If you have littles in your home, this is a very inexpensive "unplugged" activity, but of course use caution as some like to put them in their mouth.  

Even if you don't have littles in your home now, keep in mind that they are a fun "Grandma and Grandpa's house" activity.

Be it ever so humble, the button is a little gem {and sometimes even looks like one}  ;-)