“This post was sponsored by NEW! Tide purclean as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central.
You know I often share my Learning Through Play posts, but today we’re switching up to learning through chores. I’m a believer that with children, everything is learning. Even before Rohan could speak we’d do little games to teach him his shapes, colors and concepts on the low. Well I did the same with Kaya and one of the ways we work on colors and matching is through laundry!
Here are 4 ways Laundry can be a Homeschool activity:
Colors
Having the kids help separate laundry is great as a time-saver for me, and helps with learning colors. I started them with lights, darks and brights. They enjoy helping, and I enjoy not having to do it myself! As they get older they can start to separate further when items have multiple colors, or don’t fall exactly in one of the categories.
Matching
After the laundry is clean it’s awesome to have a little helper match up socks, or make piles of white tees or blue jeans. It’s fun for them, they love to help. And it also teaches them how things happen to make their way from the bathroom floor to clean in their drawer/closet. I like that my kids know that work goes into keeping up the house, and clean clothes don’t magically appear in their rooms.
Concepts
Big vs small. Mommys vs Daddys. Wrinkled vs Smooth. Dirty vs Clean. ….heck even Stinky vs Smelling good! As you handle the laundry, seperate clothes, match them up and put them away there are plenty of opportunities to have little ones learn the concepts above. Simply asking “who’s is this?” and then “why?” can help them learn big/small or who things belong to.
Gym Class
When we’re finishing up the laundry I have Rohan run through the house to do a final check. I ask him to find any clothes that may be on the floor or on a bed, and bring it back to the laundry room. He gets a good workout and feels like an extra special helper (since it’s usually his job and not Kaya’s.)
We recently started using Tide purclean (it’s new to the market but you can find it at Target stores) to clean our clothes because it’s a greener option. It has 65% bio-based ingredients. I feel better about having the kids help with the laundry when we’re using something less toxic since they take turns pouring (and always….all. ways. spill.)
If you want to try Tide purclean you can save $1.00 using the neckhanger and also save 10% on Cartwheel (you BETTER be using the Cartwheel app when you go to Target.)
You do lights and brights? Wow! I’m impressed. I’ve tried to have them help me with socks twice and both times, they were done before they started.