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Sorting through clothes is a fantastic way to introduce new words about texture, patterns, and colour to your little one. It makes doing the laundry a little more exciting too!

You could ask them to describe different types of clothing items, using words like 'soft', 'stripy' or 'fluffy'.

Check out these families giving it a go in the video below for some ideas.

Why chat to children about laundry?

• It helps them to learn about and use words for textures, colours and clothing.
• It gives them chance to practise following simple instructions and making choices.
• It can be an easy way to build learning into an everyday chore.
• It can be a way for children to think about and express their preferences.

How to chat through sorting clothes

Encourage your child to talk about clothes as you sort through them for washing, peg them out on the line or hang them out on a clothes airer by asking them questions about them.

You could ask them about the clothes' textures, for example, 'which of these dresses is the softest?' or 'what do these jeans feel like?'

Or you could ask them about who the clothes belong to, 'whose socks are these?'.

You could encourage them to think about their preferences by offering them choices like 'which is your favourite t shirt?' or 'what's your favourite colour skirt?'.

Try getting your little one to sort the clothing in different ways. They could try sorting the clothes by colours, by textures, by patterns or by who they belong to.

Repeat any new words for them to hear and learn. If they say a word or phrase, you can help them to build on it by repeating it back with added detail. For example, if they say 'mummy's socks', you might say 'mummy's blue socks for playing football'.

More ways to build learning into routines

There are lots of ways you can build learning into your everyday activities with children:

• To take their chatting about clothes further, you could talk your child through getting dressed for the day or dressing for a trip outside based on the weather. This encourages them to think about simple fuure plans.
• You could try cooking meals with your child, getting them to carry out simple tasks like mixing, fetching and counting ingredients
• Sleepy time games are a great way to learn at bedtime and wind them down from the day.

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