Fun Laundry Ideas To Make The Chore Exciting For Kids

Shout,  “Laundry time!” in your household, and watch as your kids run and hide. Like other chores, doing laundry might not be a time that you can call a “fun” experience. However, there are ways you can make laundry time a fun time with your little ones. Here are five ways to help you achieve that goal:

Play The Question Game

Many people like a good game, regardless of its simplicity. Treat laundry as a game, and you can see positive results from your kids, aside from the usual stomping of the feet in disinterest. 

What you can do is to start laundry time with a game of “20 Questions”, “I Spy”,  or “Would You Rather”. For example, start with a question like, “Would you rather fold 100 clothes or do your math homework for five hours?” 

For that inquiry, it may seem like folding 100 clothes is a less menial task than doing math homework for five hours. Therefore, chances are your kids will choose the laundry task than study for a school subject for extended periods. 

Furthermore, don’t be the only person in the room who gets to ask the questions. Encourage your kids to ask questions as well. Perhaps, one of your children will ask if you would instead do washer and dryer repair or build a jungle gym. You don’t have to answer with a serious statement; make the time spent with your kids as fun as possible, even though you’re currently doing household chores.

Play Background Music

Perhaps, the only sounds you hear while doing laundry are the parts whirring in your washing machine. If your kids are with you during this time, chances are they’re going to feel bored within just a few minutes. 

Bring a speaker in the laundry room or use your smartphone to play music in the area. Play some of your children’s favorite songs while you’re at it. Sing and dance along with the tracks, and you might not notice that time has already flown by fast.

You can also take it one step further by dancing along with the beat of the music. Fold clothes and sing to your heart’s content with the kids. Perhaps, you may also enjoy a variation of the Freeze Dance game and call it “Freeze Fold”. Stop moving when the music halts, and whoever moves while there’s no sound in the room loses.  

Offer A Prize

Aside from playing question-based games, you can play other forms of entertainment while doing laundry, such as memory or match-up activities. 

For example, tell your kids to match and fold clothes with the same color. Then, whoever gets to finish first gets a prize. The prize doesn’t have to be extravagant. For instance, the award for the fastest and cleanest folder of the clothes gets to have extra dessert after dinner. 

You can offer cash prizes for the fastest clothes folder in the room, but don’t forget to instruct your children about the value of money. Otherwise, your little ones will still think that laundry time is nothing but a job. 

Throw Sock Balls

Also called “Sock Basketball”, throwing sock balls is an excellent way to remove the monotony of doing laundry with your children. 

Ask your kids to bring a small bin or container. One bin per child should suffice. Next, tell the little ones to roll the pairs of socks into balls, then, throw then into their respective containers. Don’t forget to implement a point system just like in the real game of basketball. 

Draw lines (or make them using dirty clothes), and instruct your children that shooting behind those lines have corresponding points. You might not even have to implement a prize for this laundry room game. Celebrate the victory by cheering or jumping around in excitement, and your children should feel content from the mini-competition. 

Tell Stories

Children like to hear stories and listen to tales of fantasy and adventure. So, why not narrate an exciting tale or two while you and your little ones wash and fold clothes?  This will remove the feeling of dread from doing the chore. 

You can make up stories related to your childhood, but don’t forget to add spices of fantasy or science fiction to them. Watch as your children’s eyes open with excitement and curiosity as their imagination runs wild from listening to your tales. 

Once the story ends, the clothes should be in their baskets so that your children can deliver them to their rooms. 

Conclusion

Laundry time doesn’t have to feel like a chore, even though it is one. Invite the kids to play games, dance, and sing while you’re washing and folding clothes. Please take this opportunity to spend more time with your children because they won’t be kids forever.