Zipper Train Station

The trickiest part of a jacket zip is the start. This game turns it into a train pulling into a station, so the child learns to join and zip their own coat.

  1. Meet the parts. Lay the child’s jacket open on a table. Name the three pieces: the pin (the thin metal or plastic end) is the train, the box and slider at the bottom of the other side is the station, and the pull tab is the driver.
  2. Park the station. Show that the slider must be pushed all the way down to the bottom, sitting snugly on the box. “The station has to be at the end of the line or the train can’t get in.”
  3. Train into station. One hand holds the station still. The other slides the train straight down into it until it stops — “all the way in, right to the buffers.”
  4. Hold the bottom, pull the driver. One hand pinches the bottom of the jacket below the zip and pulls gently down; the other pulls the tab up. “Choo choo!” Stop at chest height.
  5. Now on the body. The child puts the jacket on, looks down, and repeats: park the station, train in, hold the bottom, pull up. Sitting down makes it easier at first because the jacket hem rests on the lap.
  6. Unzip all the way and pull the train out of the station.

Variation: if joining the ends is still too hard, do it backward — you connect the train, the child zips up; next time you only park the station; then they do it all.

Requirements

  • Space: A table for the first tries, then anywhere near the front door
  • Surface: Table top; then sitting on a chair or step, then standing
  • Materials: The child's own jacket or hoodie with a chunky open-ended zip; optional short loop of ribbon or a keyring on the pull tab
  • Participants: 1 adult + 1 child
  • Supervision: Moderate at first — the adult models each step — then light

Rationale & Objective

Pulling a zip up and down comes early — children’s occupational therapy services place it at around age 3 — but engaging a separating zip (fitting the pin into the box) is a later and much harder step, and it is the one that decides whether a five-year-old can get out to play or leave school without waiting for an adult. It needs both hands working precisely together, one stabilising while the other inserts, plus enough force control to hold the hem taut while pulling. Screening tools such as the ASQ-3 ask about dressing and undressing independently at this age, and the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework includes fastening in the dressing ADL. The exercise follows standard occupational therapy grading: learn it off the body first, where the child can see, then on the body sitting, then standing; and use backward chaining — the adult does the early steps and the child finishes — so that every attempt ends in success.

Progress Indicators

  • Early: zips up and down once an adult has joined the ends; lets go of the bottom so the zip jams; does not notice whether the slider is at the bottom
  • Developing: joins the zip on a jacket lying on the table; on the body gets the pin in on some tries with reminders to “park the station” and hold the bottom
  • Proficient: joins and zips own jacket while wearing it, sitting or standing, in a few tries without help; unzips and separates it fully
  • Advanced: manages stiff or small zips, zips with gloves nearby or in a hurry at the door, frees a zip caught on fabric by backing it down, and helps a friend start theirs

Safety Notes

  • Stop the zip at chest height until the child is reliable — zips can pinch the skin of the neck or chin; teach “chin up” for the last bit
  • Teach the child never to yank a stuck zip; back it down and free the fabric, or ask for help
  • Check jackets for hood and neck drawstrings, which safety regulators advise against on young children’s outerwear, and remove them
  • Avoid practising on jackets with broken or very stiff zips — repeated failure on faulty equipment teaches the child they “can’t do zips”
  • If the child cannot coordinate one hand holding while the other moves in other tasks too (opening containers, cutting), mention it to your pediatrician or an occupational therapist

Hints

  • Playfulness: make the train noises — a slow “chuff, chuff” going into the station, a whistle at the top. Let the child be the conductor who checks your coat
  • Sustain interest: try every zip in the house — sleeping bag, backpack, pencil case, boots, tent, suitcase. Closed-end zips are easy wins between harder ones
  • Common mistake: forgetting to push the slider fully down first. Nine failed starts out of ten are a station that is not parked
  • Limited space: needs none — do it on your lap on the stairs. No suitable jacket? A zip-up hoodie or a sleeping bag works
  • Cross-domain: use up, down, into, bottom, together (spatial language); retell the steps in order to a teddy (sequencing and narrative); count how many zips are in the hallway
  • Progression: zip up and down only → join on the table → join on the body sitting → standing → own coat at the door before going out → a smaller or stiffer zip

Sources

  • Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Children’s Occupational Therapy — “Getting dressed” (zip pulling from around age 3)
  • NHS Grampian children’s occupational therapy — “How to help your child with dressing, buttons and zips”
  • Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust children’s occupational therapy — “Dressing skills” leaflet (backward chaining)
  • ASQ-3 Personal-Social area — dressing and undressing items
  • AOTA (2020), Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process, 4th ed. — dressing as an ADL, including fastening clothing
  • U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission — Guidelines for Drawstrings on Children’s Upper Outerwear