Washing a Table
Materials:
Color Coded
Apron
Large underlay for the floor
Bowl/basin
Sponge in a dish
Soap in a dish
Scrub brush
Drying cloth
Bucket
Pitcher
Purposes:
Independence
Coordination of Movement
Equilibrium
Development of a sense of order through a sequence of activities and the exact use of each item.
Age: 3 - 4
Preparation: Dusting a Table and Polishing a Table
Presentation:
Layout
Invite one child for a lesson on washing the table.
Show the child the materials and put on aprons.
Turn out the chair.
Ask the child to open/place underlay at the short edge of the table on the floor.
Share the task of bringing the materials to the underlay.
Set basin on the floor left side of the mat, sponge to its right, soap, then scrub brush, bucket above the basin, the pitcher at top right. Hang the towel over the chair back.
Wet & Scrub the Table
Explain what you are going to do. Invite the child to fill the pitcher.
Pour ½ the water in the basin, show the child there is still water in the pitcher, and set onto the underlay at the top right.
Dip sponge, wipe left to right in a serpentine line moving from the top to the bottom of the table.
Dip and squeeze sponge in the basin, replace in the dish.
Take scrub brush in the right and soap in the left.
Wet the brush and then rub onto the soap, do this in the basin to contain the spray. Replace soap.
Brace left hand on the table. Scrub top of table left to right in swirling motion. Scrub slowly at the edge and faster in the center of the table. At the right edge, lift and move lower back to the left.
Continue until the entire tabletop is scrubbed.
Dip the brush into the basin and rub onto the palm to clean the soap off, dip again, lift and give a vigorous downward shake.
Replace to dish.
Rinse the Table
Dip the sponge into water and squeeze.
Brace the left hand on the table. Wipe the top of the table left to right with the downward hook motion.
Lift and repeat for the entire tabletop, rinsing the sponge as needed in the basin.
When left to right is done, rinse the sponge and start to wipe the table left side, top to bottom with a right hook motion at the bottom.
Lift and return to the top moving across the table rinsing the sponge as necessary.
Dry the Table
Take the cloth off the chair and roll the towel on the table.
Brace left hand on the table and wipe in a serpentine line left to right, top to bottom.
Then wipe in a serpentine line starting at the left, top to bottom all the way across.
Cup the towel around the edge of the table and wipe the edges of the table starting at the lower left, around clockwise.
Hang the towel on the chair.
Partial Cleanup
Empty basin into bucket and refill with the rest of the water from the pitcher.
Swirl the water in the basin.
Pour it into the bucket and have the child empty it in the sink.
Invite the child.
Fade and observe
Cleanup
Return when the child is done to show them the cleanup process.
Use the towel to dry the basin and the exterior of the pitcher. Place the pitcher into the basin and ask the child to take them back to the shelf.
Put the sponge in the bucket, then the soap, then the brush. Ask the child to take the bucket back to the shelf.
Invite the child to wipe up any spills on the underlay.
Take the towel to the laundry and replace it with a new one to hang on the bucket.
Child rolls underlay and replaces onto the shelf.
Invite to mop if necessary.
Fold the aprons.
Return the chair.
Invite the child to polish the table if they like or ask what work they want to put on their clean table.
Points of Interest:
Creating enough soapy lather to scrub the whole table.
Slow controlled circular movements at the edge of the table.
The different ways of squeezing or handling a sponge to result in a wetter versus drier sponge.
Giving the downward shake of the scrub brush to release excess water.
Following Exercises:
Washing the table legs
Washing chairs
Washing other tables/furniture in the classroom or outdoor environment
Pedagogical Notes:
Emphasize the importance of scrubbing slowly along the edges to avoid getting soap on the floor.
Rolling the cloth gives the child more to hold onto.
Encourage the use of the mop for floor spills rather than the drying cloth.
If a child gets wrapped up in water play, ask them if they want to scrub the table or to play with the water. If they really wanted to play with the water, ask them to clean up and direct them to a water play exercise outside.
The full care of the table sequence is to dust, scrub the table, and then polish the table.
