Years ago, most children would have had experience of helping their family to keep things clean. As children love playing with water and are interested in being alongside an adult, it is worth planning a range of washing activities.
BENEFITS
For children, activities involving washing can have many benefits.
Emotional development Having a little responsibility and being alongside an adult can support children’s emotional development. Children can feel important if they are involved in the adult world in some way and this in turn can help shape their self-esteem. Being alongside an adult, especially a key person, can also support children’s attachment.
Hand preference Most washing activities will require an active and a stabilising hand. The active hand will be responsible for the washing, but the other hand may hold the bowl or the item that is being washed. Activities involving this type of two-handed movement can strengthen a child’s hand preference.
Physical skills As well as hand preference, washing activities also help children’s hand strength and general co-ordination. Most washing activities involve repeated movements and so develop muscle strength.
Language development Washing activities can be relaxing and interesting for children and so prove the ideal opportunity for chatting with adults. As well as the activity providing plenty of things to comment about, children may also use this time to talk about other things of interest to them. Adults can also increase children’s specific vocabulary with words such as ‘rinse’, ‘scrub’, ‘brush’ and ‘wipe’.
Independence By joining in with washing activities, children start to develop some simple skills that will eventually help them become independent. Small tasks such as washing and drying a beaker can be done as part of the routine and children will quickly gain in competence.
PLANNING A PROGRAMME
A good starting point will be to make a list of activities and link them to the age/stage of children in your setting. It is likely that you have already carried out some washing activities with children, although you may not have created a longer-term plan.
Washing activities might begin with simply wiping tables and drying them or learning how to wash and dry a cup and plate after snacks. Children can go on to do some handwashing of laundry using dressing-up clothes or dolls’ clothes. In addition, resources such as Lego can be washed using a toothbrush, which encourages a two-handed movement. Outdoors, children can wash windows, scrub patios and create a ‘car wash’ for the trikes.
There are a few things to consider when planning washing activities for young children:
Skin care Children’s skin is more sensitive than adults’, and some children may have eczema. It will be important to use cleaning products that are hypoallergenic and to keep doses to a minimum.
Supervision Washing activities should be adult-led to avoid risks associated with water, but also to avoid children slipping or falling. Protective aprons may be needed.
BUILDING ON WASHING EXPERIENCES
There are many ways that you can build on washing activities for children. You can create some photographs that tell the story of the process of washing the dolls’ clothes or the windows. Afterwards children can sequence the photographs and talk about what they did and what happened.
Simple books can also be made, with adults scribing for children so that each child can have their own storybook. In addition, you can look out for stories linked to washing such as Walter’s Windy Washing Line by Neil Griffiths or How to Wash A Woolly Mammothby Michelle Robinson.
Washing can also be linked to role play so you might include relevant props in the home corner, such as rubber gloves, scrubbing brush and pretend washing-up liquid, as well as a laundry basket next to a pretend washing machine.
If there is a laundrette close by, you could consider an outing there and afterwards create your own laundrette in the setting.
HOME LEARNING
Washing and keeping things clean is part of daily life, yet many parents may not recognise it as an opportunity for learning. It is worth letting parents know that first, their children are likely to enjoy being part of such activities and that there are many benefits for children.
Explain that these activities provide a great opportunity for children to spend time with their parents, and also teach children some independence skills that will be very useful later on.
You could provide parents with examples of washing activities that are appropriate for the age/stage of the child, as well as ideas as to what to talk about and how they might engage their child in the activity.