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Pairing socks together is a great way to boost your child's communication skills - and it makes sorting laundry more fun!
Check out our video below for some laundry time inspiration!
What are the benefits of matching socks with your child?
- Naming the different types of socks helps your child build their vocabulary.
- Describing each pair of socks can help your child learn how words go together.
- Talking about who owns which pair of socks helps to teach your child about possession and sharing.
- Pairing socks can help teach your child about the concept of less and more and same and different.
- Encouraging your child to sort socks into pairs builds early maths skills.
How to make the most of pairing socks
Put mixed up pairs of socks on the floor in front of you and ask your child to sort the socks back into their correct pairs.
Help them to notice colours and patterns when pairing. Sorting in this way helps to develop early maths skills. Helping them to count how many pairs of socks you've matched as you go can also help with this.
As you sort through the socks, chat with your child about the different colours and patterns they can see.
This is also a great time to chat about whether the socks look the same or different, whether they're bigger or smaller than one another and who they belong to.
Another way to encourage your child to use more words during this activity is to offer them choices of two different socks. You could ask, for example, "These two are both red. Which one matches? Ah, the one with the spots is the same!"
When you're chatting to your child during this activity, make sure to repeat the sentences they say back to them correctly. This will help them start to understand sentence structure. By doing this, they begin to hear how the rules of sentences work and eventually get used to how they should sound.
Let your child lead the way and keep encouraging them. It's important that you praise them when they match a pair.
Chatting through your everyday routine provides a learning opportunity for your toddler, but it also helps you get important tasks finished while entertaining your little one!
More ways to make household chores fun
There are loads of ways you can introduce play into your everyday activities and routines. Below are some of our favourite examples:
- Getting ready to go out is a brilliant opportunity to chat with your little ones and help them learn a life skill.
- Why not play a game of pretend washing up?
- Doing the laundry can be a great conversation starter with your little one.
