Dusting a Table
Materials:
Basket
Flannel Dust Cloths
Following Exercises:
Round brush for dusting inside a box
Oblique brush for dusting the corners
Feather duster for delicate or irregularly shaped objects
Purposes:
Independence
Coordination of Movement
Equilibrium
Age: 3 - 4
Preparation: The child will have been presented all the Folding Cloths.
Presentation:
Invite one child for the lesson on dusting the table.
Show the child the materials and ask them to bring one cloth to the table.
Have the child turn out the chair and explain what you are going to do.
The guide opens the cloth fold it in the same manner as folding cloth #6.
Place the whole right hand on the folded cloth and close your hand into a fist.
Turn the hand over and pinch the middle of the cloth to make a “poof”.
Brace table with the left hand.
Begin wiping the top left corner from left to right with a slight downward hook motion when you get to the right edge of the table. Lift and return to the left side, a little lower and do again.
Continue for the whole surface of the table.
Next, begin at the top left corner and wipe down vertically with a slight hook motion to the right at the bottom edge of the table.
Return to the top and continue across the table.
Wipe the edges of the table in one movement from the lower-left corner to the upper left, to upper right, to lower right, to lower left.
Show the cloth to the child. And ask them to accompany you to the door.
Open it a little, put the arm through the door and shake out the cloth while looking away.
Return to the table layout the cloth.
Invite the child and fade and observe.
When the child is done, return and ask if they think the cloth is too dirty to use again. If yes, show them to the laundry and the replacements, if no it is folded and taken back to the tray. Return the chair.
Points of Interest:
The specific horizontal and vertical movements.
Seeing the dust on the cloth.
Shaking out the cloth.
Following Exercises:
Dusting other parts of the table
Dusting a box with the round brush
Dusting a shelf, (the contents of the shelf must be removed to a floor rug) using angled brush to get into corners
Dusting delicate items with a lamb’s wool duster
Pedagogical Notes:
This is a nice exercise to orient new children to the classroom.
It is up to you how many cloths to keep in the tray.
The curve/hook at the end of the stroke is to capture the dust.
Using horizontal and then vertical strokes leads to more thorough dusting.
Folding the cloth into a pillow/puff gives the child something easier to hold onto.