I Dress Up My Grown-Up From the Laundry Basket

Kids fetch clothes from laundry baskets across the room (hats, scarves, big shirts, chunky socks) and bring them back to dress their grown-up, who lets them do it without helping. It works traveling movements, the fine motor skills of pulling on, tucking and stretching, and caring for someone else, with lots of laughs.

How to play

1. The teacher dumps out a basket and shows the clothes; the grown-up sits on a chair or the floor, still "like a mannequin" (1 min).
2. The child crosses the room moving the way the teacher says (hopping, sideways, like a cat), grabs one item and comes back (3 min).
3. They put it on their grown-up: hat on the head, scarf around the neck, shirt over the arms; the grown-up can't help, only give hints (3 min).
4. The fully dressed mannequin walks a runway around the room while everyone claps (2 min).
5. Switch: the grown-up fetches clothes and dresses the child, who holds still like a statue (2 min).
6. Together they take the clothes off, fold them as best they can and return them to the basket (1 min).

Rules

• Take only one item at a time.
• My grown-up is a mannequin: they don't move or help.
• Put clothes on gently, no yanking.
• At the end, all clothes go back in the basket.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: the grown-up brings the basket over and the child chooses and puts on items from their spot; they walk to the basket with help if they can.
• Less fine motor dexterity: use big items with no buttons or zippers, and the grown-up holds the edge while the child pulls.
• Autism: agree on the clothes ahead of time, and they can dress a large stuffed animal if they'd rather not touch the grown-up.

Learning goals

• Travel in different ways on an out-and-back route.
• Improve hand skills by putting clothes on and taking them off.
• Take care of someone else and enjoy shared humor.

Equipment for a class of 25

• Assorted oversized clothes: 75
• Laundry baskets: 4

Teacher tip

Ask families to send old grown-up clothes the week before: the bigger, the funnier. Remove belts, long drawstrings and anything with safety pins.

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