Can laundry be fun?

Washing machine sounds as dance beats

As long as she has had teeth, my daughter has detested brushing them. To ease the protest, I have come up with countless playful ways to make it more fun for her. We play dentist, pretend the toothbrush makes different sounds when it touches different teeth, have stuffed animals sing encouragingly as she brushes… the list goes on and on. 

This practice has made tooth brushing more enjoyable for her and it's become a creative challenge for me, a game I play with myself. What new way can I dream up to do this annoying task we both detest?! 

Doing this got me thinking… what other tedious tasks could I bring more joy to AND could I help others to do the same through the power of play?

I love this challenge because in our busy adult lives it can feel like there's no room for play. We feel buried under our never-ending task lists, suffer through the chores, feel dead inside our days waiting for a vacation or special occasion to bring us back to life. 

But play is not something that always needs its own special time. Play is a mindset. It's a curious spirit of adventure, improvisation, openness, and lightheartedness that can go anywhere with you. So can it be brought to the daily drugery of chores? Let's see…

Recently while hosting a play workshop, I asked the group what chore they hated (it was laundry) and then we did a group brainstorm on how we could bring more play to it. Here are some of the community ideas from our 3-minute brainstorm… 

TURNING LAUNDRY DAY INTO LAUNDRY PLAY…

— Put on a song and dance while you fold

— Make a shirt your dance partner

— Make up dances for each machine sound

— Set a timer & see how fast you can do each step

— Play laundry basketball

— Do a folding meditation

— Make up songs about each item

— Play bingo with socks! 

— Do music improv making songs with the machine sounds

— Experiment with new folding techniques

— Fold with your eyes closed

— Create stories of the next adventure the clothes will go on

— Do it with a buddy and make it a race

— Use the clothes as puppets

Making this list made me smile.

Even if I wouldn't do all of them, a sense of possibility starts to appear just imagining them. Maybe laundry will never be fun… but it could certainly be fun-er with a pop of play. 

So I'm curious…

— Would you try any of these? 

— Do these spark ideas of your own? 

— What odious chore do you want to add more joy to? 

—What would that chore look like play-ified? 

Asking yourself these questions is play in itself!

Wishing you a playful weekend and a glimmer of joy the next time laundry day comes around.