Have you ever thought about teaching your kids how to do laundry? If you have kids older than three years old, then you can get them started learning this life skill. Here are some tips for how to make it easy and fun.
Why you’ll love this list
- Teach Kids Responsibility: Teaching kids responsibility and life skills at a young age is important for helping them understand what it takes to run a household.
- Age Appropriate Tasks List: Younger kids can still help, they just need age appropriate tasks. And you are best at knowing what those tasks are, but I provided a list below to help.
- Makes Kids Feel Capable: Kids who do what adults do feel more capable of handling things without adult help.
Want to build more function into doing laundry with your kids? Try building this DIY Tilt-Out Laundry Hamper
Why should kids learn how to do their own laundry?
As a mom of 4 kids, you can imagine how much laundry we have. And if I’m honest, we didn’t start our older kids (almost 11 year old twins) out with helping as early as we should have. It’s pretty easy to fall into the trap of just wanting to do it yourself to get it done. But as parents, we’re really doing them a disservice when we take that approach. Doing laundry is truly an essential life skill so it should be taught early on.
And now, it’s a part of their chore checklist and something they all help with!
Teach Your Kids How to Do Laundry Step by Step
The most important step in getting your kids to help out with laundry is to teach them how. Here is a step by step guide to help you kids learn to do the laundry.
- Sort Clothes: By sorting the laundry, you help guard against turning clothes colors they are not supposed to be. Try setting up a color coded laundry sorter in your child’s room or in the bathroom.
- Wash Clothes: Learning the settings on the washing machine can be intimidating for a young person. A good suggestion is to place stickers near the correct settings with a #1, #2, and so on so they know what order to do things.
- Dry Clothes: For the dryer, the same is true as for the washer. There are a lot of knobs and buttons that can seem overwhelming. Labeling the correct buttons to push and in what order can be helpful for young kids.
- Fold Clothes: Folding is an essential part of doing the laundry because otherwise the clothes become wrinkled. However, when teaching a child to do laundry, folding can be difficult and frustrating. I suggest not caring too much about “perfect” folding. As long as your child is participating, learning, and having fun doing it, it doesn’t matter. Over time they will get better at it.
- Put Clothes Away: And last, show your kids that they need to help put the laundry away in the appropriate places. Again, be patient, for it may be tough for the kids to put things in perfectly, but again, over time they will figure it out. Right now you are just laying the groundwork for good work ethic and being responsible.
15 Ideas to Get Your Kids To Do Laundry
When it comes to getting your kids to do the laundry, I feel there are a lot of ways that can help. Here I list out 15 different ideas you can use to get your kids to help with the wash, freeing up valuable time for you and helping them learn responsibility in the process.
1// Be Patient
The number one rule I want to give you today is to be patient. If you have ever taught your child anything, you know that sometimes it can be challenging. They may resist, get frustrated, or frustrate you. But in the end, they are going to get it. Remember, you didn’t know how to do laundry once, but you learned. And so will they.
2//Make Laundry fun
Kids learn better, easier, and faster if things are fun for them. So instead of just spitting out the instructions, rules, and what they are doing wrong, try making it fun in a way that suits them. Whether that is a game (who can put the most clothes in the washing machine the fastest) or playing house (you be the mommy and I’ll be the kid) making things fun can help them want to do the task more often. Just choose what works for your kids and their personalities.
3//Skip the Measuring
Using things like Tide Pods or other detergent pouches or sheets make it easy for small uncoordinated hands to put detergent into the washing machine without making a big mess.
Dryer sheets are another way to skip pouring a liquid and instead just toss a mess free sheet into the dryer. I’ve also been using dryer balls lately and they really do work!
4//Hide the scary stuff
If you want to give your child full responsibility at some point, I recommend putting things like bleach, ammonia, and any other harmful chemicals you use in the laundry room, way out of reach. This keeps everyone safe.
5//Make it foolproof
One big concern I always had was that the kids would somehow add a red sock to the whites and voila…we would have all pink clothes. So to safeguard against bleeding colors, I started using Shout Laundry Catchers. They help soak up any bleeding colors in the water so your clothes stay the color they are supposed to be.
6//Create a Cheat Sheet
Once you have taught your kids to do the laundry, don’t expect them to remember everything. If they can read, a written out cheat sheet is a great idea. I framed mine and placed it on the wall next to the washer and dryer. For younger kids, you can use pictures on the cheat sheet.
7//Put a laundry sorter in their room or bathroom
Laundry sorters not only help kids learn to sort their laundry before doing it, but also help keep dirty clothes off the floor. I built this tilt out laundry hamper and it is the perfect way for my kids to stay on top of laundry.
If you’re not into building your own hamper, here is one of my favorites on Amazon.
8//Put things where kids can reach them
One of the main issues when I taught my own kids to do the laundry was them being able to reach things. We had a top loader with a shelf above it that held all the detergent, fabric softener, and baskets. So I decided to change things around so they could reach what they needed. I added some lower shelves just for them and also put a little stool in the laundry room so they could get everything in and out of the washer.
9//Easy Folding
Try making folding more fun by using a laundry folder like this one (amazon). Or you can try making your own laundry folder out of cardboard (possible quick project?)
10//Create a laundry rewards chart
A laundry rewards chart is the perfect way to entice your kids to help out with the laundry. It can reinforce good behavior and keep them wanting to do more laundry!
11//Use small lightweight laundry baskets
Little kids are going to have a hard time lifting and moving heavy laundry baskets. Since they don’t have as big or as many clothes as adults, a smaller, lightweight laundry basket like this one is perfect for small helpers.
12//Use lightweight hamper inserts
Another way to help out little helps is to make sure the hamper bag in the laundry sorter is manageable for them. I like this one since it is super lightweight.
13//Color code
Making things personal can help kids feel ownership of their things and the responsibility their things bring. I decided to make a color coded laundry basket and hamper for each family member so everyone knew what was theirs.
14//Designate Days
Another great idea is to designate certain days for each family member to do their laundry. Then you avoid the potential fighting over who was in the laundry room doing their laundry first! (wouldn’t that be a mother’s dream!!!)
15//Play up the smell good
And last, telling your kids how great their clothes smell after all their hard work is a great way to entice young kids to want to do the laundry more often. I like letting them pick out the scent of the fabric softener or scent beads so they feel like they have some control over how their laundry smells.
Age appropriate laundry tasks
Laundry jobs for age 3-5
- Sort clothing by color
- Help load the washer with clothes
- Put a detergent pod in
- Help move laundry over to the dryer
- Put the fabric softener sheet in the dryer
- Push buttons with help and supervision
- Some folding like socks or pants
- Putting clothes away
Laundry tasks for age 6-9
All the things a 3-5 year old can do plus the following:
- Carrying hampers to laundry room
- Carrying laundry baskets
- Folding
- Turn on the washer and dryer
Laundry for kids 10 and 15
All the things a 3-5 and 6-10 year old can do plus the following:
- Hang clothes on hanger to dry
- Set the settings on the washer and dryer
- Use different settings on washer and dryer
- Measure out liquid detergent
- Measure out liquid fabric softener
- Treat stains
Laundry for kids 15-18
All the tasks a 3-5, 6-9, and 10-15 year old can do plus the following:
- Tend to special care clothing items such as silk, wool, or delicate items.
- Use bleach in treating certain items.
Looking for more laundry tips and tricks? How about checking out some of my other posts: Laundry Tips
FAQs
What age should kids start doing laundry? Kids can start helping with the laundry as young as 3 years old (see the age appropriate list above), however I recommend teaching kids no later than age 10 how to start helping and tending to their own laundry.
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