I needed to do a sink full of dishes and clear off the table but Kiddo wanted to play dominoes. I realized this would be a good time for some practical work since we could not play dominoes at the dirty table. I can’t believe I’ve never done any dish washing practical life work with Kiddo. He was actually excited about it.
I set him up with a low square bucket on the counter next to me. He chose a sponge: blue, his favorite color, and I showed him how to wash his own dishes. You can see the fruits of his labor in the photo. I love that little metal cup… it was mine when I was a kid. Whenever I make myself some tea Kiddo likes to have tea in it; his is just honey, hot water and some milk.
He loved dish washing and asked me to show him “how to do something else” he didn’t “know how to do.” So next we cleaned off the table and I showed him how to sponge it down.
And then we played.
What practical life activities do you love to do along with your kids?
Anna - Three Sneaky Bugs says
You sound like me with the laundry.
Catriona says
My kids love doing the washing up, I started it to stop them fighting while I was trying to do the washing. Now the only problem is they both want to be doing the water stuff and not the drying and putting away. The other day I didn't have much to do so I let older boy do the soap side and toddler girl did the rinsing. I love it because for them its water play with science – what floats and sinks and mathematics. At the moment my son and I compare measurements, which cup holds more, why does that one hold more than that one? and we talk about depth and width.