Materials
white gel pens, pencils, or crayons
black paper
black gel pens, pencils, or crayons
white paper
Instructions
1. Many manual tools are obsolete in today's homes. Introduce some of these
items to the children and discuss their uses. Show the children a washboard
and explain that before washing machines were invented, people used them
to wash clothes.
2. Ask the children to pour 1 cup of warm water into the dishpan.
3. Place the washboard in the pan so it rests on one side of the pan.
4. Use a pencil to make marks on a white cloth. Wet the dirty cloth and spread
it across the rough surface of the washboard.
5. Wet the soap and let children rub it across the pencil marks. Then they can
rub the cloth against the rough washboard.
6. Ask them to rinse the cloth and check to see if the spots are gone. If not,
repeat step five.
7. Introduce vocabulary, such as "washboard," "rinse," and "wring."
8. Remove the washboard and wipe it with the sponge. Wring the cloth and
spread it on the washboard to dry. Empty the water and wipe the pan with
the sponge.
9. To maintain interest, replace the cloth with doll clothes.
More to do Science: Observe the difference in dry cloth and wet cloth. Explain how soap
and water remove soil.
