Preschool Play: Pretend Clothesline

Setting up a pretend clothesline is great practice for preschool fine motor skills, and it’s a constructive way to keep little hands busy! One morning last week, I tied a string to the backs of two chairs and gave Owen a pile of clothespins and the fabric squares from our pretend wipes toy!

Owen had to use his hand to open the clothespins (instead of just his fingers), which made me think that this was really good practice for him to develop coordination and strength.

After hanging up fabric squares for a while, he decided to fill the clothesline with all of the clothespins.  He said that he was pretending they were whales.  And while he was happy and busy doing this, the older boys were at the table working on their school work without Owen interruptions.  Sweet – a moment of homeschooling success!

Last spring, we went to a pioneer day at a local historic farm.  They had squares of fabric for the kids to wash in an old washtub and then hang on a clothesline.  I couldn’t believe how much fun the boys had doing that.  When the weather is warm again, we’ll definitely add the washing step to our pretend clothesline activity!