Hello, my fellow Educators. Today, I am sharing some of our play using a makeshift clothesline made with rope. This simple, practical life activity has many benefits for young children – it helps their hand-eye coordination, strengthens their fine motor skills, builds social skills, improves vocabularies, helps with problem-solving, and builds their patience and grit.
What you will need
- Yarn / Jute or some form of rope
- Clothespins or pegs
- Spring clips/ Tent clamps
- Fabric swatches, scarves, cloth, or loose parts
Scarves
She kept hanging the scarf, placing clamps to the bottom of the scarf, and each time, the scarf would slide off the rope. She kept working on this method, frustrated at her successes and failures, and had heavy sighs. She didn’t ask what was happening. She kept trying, and I watched her efforts. I didn’t interject with the typical, ‘I wonder what would happen if’ – no, I allowed her to work at her grit and patience.
Hanging Bark
Here is another example of building resilience – my preschooler found a bark and decided to hang it on the line. This bark is thicker than the scarves, and she made several attempts before clipping the bark on the line – all on her own.
I purchased these scarves several years ago; I am confident you can find similar ones online. These colored clips I got from a thrift store. See These small spring clips/clamps found on Amazon.
Our Teepee
Here I hung more scarves on our teepee, and the children love to play hide and seek in this area. The longer silk scarves are often used with their imaginative play and dress-up.
Our emergent curriculum allows the continued use of these materials. The line on the fence is always there for the children to use. Inside the bucket are the pegs and clips. The children have ownership of the materials and use them whenever they are outdoors, especially in the warm seasons. The felt pieces that were outdoors during the winter had too much bird poop so I had to replace those.
Hang Leaves on a Clothesline
In the past, the children added leaves to makeshift clotheslines.
I drew some clothing designs on the leaves, and the children hung the leaves with wooden clothespins.
Indoor Classroom
Felt swatches or any small fabric can be added to the clothesline indoors or outdoors.
For this activity, I attached a rope to the chairs in the classroom. I extended their learning opportunity by placing a basin with water and soap; they washed the felt swatches, wrung the water out (as much as their little hands could) then hung them on the line.
The children dyed some cloth in onion skin water and added them to a string.
Thank you for reading. May your days be filled with laughter, communication, and LOVE – xoxo Miss Sue
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