Fine MotorPreschoolersKindergartnersToddlers32 Comments
Snag a little autumn-themed quiet time with a fall button tree quiet bin for preschoolers from Sarah at How Wee Learn!
Quiet time. Two of the most beautiful words to a Mama’s ear.
Important for a Mama, yes (yes!), but equally important to a little one.
Quiet time is actually incredibly important for children. It gives them time to process their day, learn independence, focus, and relax.
Easy Fall Button Tree Quiet Bin for PreK Kids
My little guys have some trouble settling into quiet, independent times so we use quiet bins, or boxes, for quiet time activities for preschoolers.
Quiet bins are perfect for little ones who no longer nap or just need some time to reset themselves. They’re super simple to set up, use materials you likely already have at home, and provide hours of quiet learning for children.
Inside each quiet bin, I put a gently structured activity. This is an activity that is open-ended for little ones to use as they please and never really be “done.”
It provides just enough structure to help children settle into a time of quiet and they are also full of learning too.
Create 6 more super fun quiet busy bins for kids!
I wrote an entire book on Quiet Bins that I think you will love. It is called A Year of Educational Quiet Bins. It is available in print form and eBook form. These bins are perfect for children between 2-6 years.
Grab Sarah’s book, A Year of Educational Quiet Bins, for less with code: HandsOnMom!
Create a Fun Quiet Bin for Fall-Theme Fun
Today I wanted to share one of the quiet time activities for preschoolers from that book. This fall button tree quiet bin is a favorite of both my kids.
Cute right? And simple too. But best of all, it is strengthening little hands for future writing.
To DIY your own fall button tree quiet bin, you’ll need:
- Buttons, all sorts
- Pipe cleaners
- Storage container, with lid
I have oodles of buttons at home, but if you don’t you can purchase a big assorted pack from the dollar store. I used fall leaf colors: red, orange, yellow, and green.
If you have a 5-year-old, they might just remind you there are no green leaves in autumn. More than once.
I made simple little pipe cleaner trees by taking some brown pipe cleaners, folding them in half, and twisting the ends together.
Then I put the buttons and trees together in a quiet bin. I left it very open-ended, introducing the bin to my little one just like that.
At first, I showed how to thread the buttons onto the pipe cleaner branches. Pretty quickly he took over and threaded the buttons onto the trees for just about 30 minutes!
Do More Than Just Thread Buttons
Like all of the quiet bins in my book, the fall button tree quiet bin is full of possibilities and ways to change up the activity.
- You could add numbers to the trees and children try to put that many buttons on that tree
- Children could sort by color and put all yellow buttons on one tree
- They could try to get every single button in the bin onto a tree branch
- Older children could practice skip counting by putting two buttons on each branch, or three buttons on each branch
- Patterning can be practiced by making each branch of the tree a different repeating pattern – red, orange, red, orange
- Really strengthen fine motor skills by encouraging older children to actually “button” the button onto the tree branches – weave the pipe cleaner in one hole and out of the other in the same button
There are tons of possibilities for quiet time with this bin!
What else can you do with buttons? Try more button activities for kids from HOAWG
And you can feel good knowing your little one is getting the quiet time he or she needs while strengthening important skills:
- counting
- sorting
- patterning
- fine motor skills
- attention
- focus
- independence.
I would love you to check out my book! I know you will LOVE it!
You can buy the eBook or a print copy directly from How Wee Learn.
See it here: A Year of Educational Quiet Bins. You can use the discount code “HandsOnMom” to get the eBook for only $5!
That is 365 days of peaceful, quiet play heading your way.
Pamela says
my class of 8 2 year olds all loved this!! what a great and cute idea… we also used pasta!!
Heather says
How do you get the trees to stand up? Cute activity!
Ashley says
How do you get the trees to stand up?
Di says
Looks like great ideas will love to try them.
Christina says
Great idea…I’ll search for giant buttons for my one year old and three year old to both play. And…buttons will end up all over the floor-unless you have any ideas how to prevent that??!
Jess says
This is brilliant, thanks so much for sharing! I’m off to get some buttons!
T says
Love love this idea. I have a mouther (everything in the mouth and he’s three now) so i struggle with small items. I’d need to find larger buttons only. And most buttons packs come in assorted sizes. I really don’t want to buy a ton of button packs to only pull out the larger ones but I may have too. But I’m looking forward to this activity
kelly polizzi says
i love your wonderful ideas. they are a lifesaver. can you tell me where you get your cute blue bins?
Our Home of Many Blessings says
We love Sensory Bins! I would love it if you would share your sensory ideas at my Sensory Bin Play Link Up!
Bekki@a better way to homeschool says
What a simple, yet fun and cute idea!
Don’t laugh. My 12 year old has terrible fine motor skills. Likely because he is so big for his age. He will love His activity bale cause he loves anything that is nature related.
Thank you for sharing!
Jamie Reimer says
Love it! My 7 year old needs to work on hand strength. So I’m not laughing :)
Lindsay says
I have had this button tree bin put together since the beginning of September, waiting patiently for some preschool-age children to arrive in my child care center. After a month of infants and small toddlers, I FINALLY got to take it out today for 2 very busy 3yo girls! We started with an owl craft with button eyes, and mostly all they wanted to do was play with the buttons, so I followed their interest and set out the button trees while our owls dried and they LOVED it! They got the hang of threading on the buttons really quickly and spent about 40 minutes concentrating on filling up their trees, and chatting quietly about the colors of their buttons and the fall trees outside. It was wonderful! Thank you for this inspiring idea!
Ericka W says
I just wanted to thank you for the incredible book and wonderful idea of quiet bins. I have two boys, ages 2 and 3, and I was desperate for fun, educational activities when I came across the button tree bin. I made a list and headed to the Dollar Tree. Our first bin deviated in that I filled it with the buttons and tractors and a scooper to work on fine motor skills. My 3 year old loves this bin! He played for an hour and asked for it again. For the second bin, I made the Pom Pom snow and added small cups and tractors. My two year old did very well with this one, although his attention and interest were not held as long only because of his age. Overall, this was the best money I could have spent because there are so many more ideas I can’t wait to try. My craft closet is ready and waiting for the next bins. Eventually, we will get to the fall button trees, too. Thanks again, Hands on as We Grow and How Wee Learn. Keep up the good work. Us mamas who are play-challenged need your great ideas!