Sort The Laundry!
Show the kids how to sort the laundry. You can practice colour recognition and classifying and grouping skills by sorting the laundry in different ways each time you do it. Sort them according to colour, or just light and dark batches. Sort according to the type of laundry, for example, shirts, jeans, underwear, towels, sheets, etc. Sort according to texture or fabric; little kids can understand the difference between soft and rough and even the difference between types of fabrics like terrycloth, denim, and silk. Sort according to sizes of clothing -- put all of the small shirts in one pile and all of the big shirts in another.
Show them and tell them - explain everything and use the correct vocabulary to describe what you are doing. Have patience, these skills take time to develop.
Count the Laundry!
Ask the kids to count how many pieces of laundry need to be washed. Or count the clothes in each pile after sorting. Or ask them to count how many red pieces of laundry you will wash today. How many socks? Differentiate between counting the shirts with buttons, versus counting shirts with long or short sleeves.
Talk about how similar types of clothing are alike and different. If you point out these differences it improves their observation skills.
Categorize the Laundry!
Talk about what each piece of laundry is used for: pajamas are for sleeping, hooded sweatshirts and jackets keep us warm in cold weather, swimsuits are for swimming, overalls are for work or play, towels are for drying off, sheets and pillow cases go on the bed. You can categorize clothes based on whether they are for boys or girls, and for parents or children. Classify them by seasons - clothes for winter, spring, summer, and fall.
