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A washing line full of laundry flapping in the wind or even a clothes horse draped with clothes can be really fascinating for your baby.
Why not scoop them up in your arms and take them for a little look at all the items, pointing out, naming and describing them all.
Check out the film below for some ideas.
The benefits of exploring laundry together
Allowing your child to touch and feel clothes as you name them will build connections between the words and the things they mean.
By naming words for how things feel, they'll start to learn the words for different textures, for example, 'it's wet' or 'it's fluffy'.
Tuning in on what’s caught your baby’s attention and talking about it helps them to learn words more quickly. This is what speech and language therapists call joint attention.
This activity helps to build joint attention into your daily routine as you have fun with your baby.
Ideas for chatting about laundry
Take your baby up close to the laundry on the line or clothes horse so that they are within easy distance to see and touch everything.
Pay attention to the things they seem most interested in and name and talk about those things. For example, 'that's daddy's t shirt'.
Describe the items, paying attention to how they feel. For example, 'it's nice and soft' or 'it's a bit wet still'. If there are details, talk about those too - for example, buttons or prints.
You could talk to them about body parts too - 'socks - they go on your feet', and point out the different body parts. They'll love feeling your touch.
Like the dad in the film, you could make up rhymes on the spot to sing to baby - 'two little socks on the line, I hope that they will dry in time!'.
Or you might like to try a bit of pretend play with the different items, for example, miming 'washing' with a flannel and talking about it - 'what do we do with the flannel? Wash, wash, wash…'
More chances for baby to learn throughout the day
All sorts of jobs that feel everyday and commonplace to you are fantastic fun for babies learning about the world around them. You don't need to build time to chat to baby if you can make it part of the things you do each day.
For example you could…
- Chat to baby as you change their nappy - a great moment for face to face bonding (and ideal to help stop them wriggling!).
- Talk them through lunch - this gives a chance to learn about the language of tastes and foods.
- Enjoy the sensory fun of doing the dishes together with baby.
