Easy Fall Button Tree Quiet Bin for PreK Kids

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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.

Set up an easy fall button tree busy bin for your kids with a few always-on-hand supplies.

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.

Pipe cleaners and buttons make a fun, gorgeous busy bin for fall!

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.

Little hands will stay busy during quiet time with a fun fall button tree busy bin!

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!

Buttons and pipe cleaners combine for a fun fall-theme busy bin!

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.

Thread buttons onto fall trees during your next quiet time play!

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!