Have you ever heard of "folding cloths"? I hadn’t.
It’s not a new thing, but it is new to me.
My sister recently incorporated a Laundromat dramatic play unit with her kindergarten class and she told me how she incorporated a folding cloth activity which is apparently based on a Montessori activity. She showed me
these as an example. I thought I would try to make my own.
Lily has been very interested in having a list of specific defined chores (where my approach was less defined, just help). I think Lily became interested in “chores” from the Little House stories.
One of her “chores” is to help fold the laundered kitchen linens, as well as face cloths. She was having great difficulty, but after trying the folds on these gridded cloths, she improved. The cloths are really easy to make especially if you find some thrifted linen serviettes. Just stitch folding grid lines with contrasting thread.
She tested the activity.
After some mastery, I gave her a basket of laundered tea towels.
She is trying to judge where fold line would be.
It took some time, but the load was folded.
It would have been much faster for me to just do it myself, but I must remind myself to forget about the time and provide the opportunity. I went to a parenting workshop last week. Although I didn’t agree with everything, there were some very good reminders for me - about remembering not rob a child of a learning opportunity, in particular life lessons and these sorts of things.
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Since Deborah is having a
“every day dramatic play” link up this week, I thought I would also share the photos from my sister’s Laundromat dramatic play unit.
Objective: Students are learning through play to match pairs, sort hot and cold types of clothing, master folding techniques, pretend washing and hanging clothes to dry
Suggested Items:
1. Laundromat sign
2. Washer and dryer
3. Suggested Reading: A pair of Socks by Stuart J. Murphy (which emphasizes matching)
4. laundry care signs and laundry soap
5. Mini laundry baskets holding socks and clothes provide useful sorting activities, such as matching socks / lights and darks /hot and cold. Include a clothesline and clothes pins.
6. An ironing board and a folding activity (such as the “folding cloths” mentioned above) are also fun additions
7. Math pattern activity: Students created their own math patterns using blank copies of socks and creating patterns.
The students really enjoyed this dramatic play unit. Who knew doing laundry could be so much fun? This post is linked to
Have a lovely day,
Here is Hope sporting her new carrier. She likes to play “family” and loves playing with dolls. I recently found this particular doll at St. Vincent de Paul. It is a Horsman doll (1976). She named her Annika - she names all of her dolls Annika (her favourite Pippi Longstocking character).
