Pyper loves to help me do the laundry. She is very good at separating by color, and tells me what temperature to wash colors and whites. She loves to transfer the wet clothes into the dryer. I can't wait to have her help me hang clothes on the line and smell the sunshine on our clothes. I have been looking for a wooden washer and dryer but they run around $250! YIKES! Below is a picture of what I envision. I have asked my dad to make one for the girls as a Christmas present. Since I am impatient, and since Pyper's love of laundry seems to only grow with the piles of laundry, I decided to MAKE a washer and dryer. 
I decided to make it out of a cardboard box. We have lots around the house with my addiction to Amazon and working at the health department. This box held car seats for the WIC program. Perfect for washing clothes! I separated the large box in half with some cardboard left over from the cave we made a month ago out of the same kind of box.
Then I traced a dinner plate to make the opening for the washer.
I used an envelope I had nearby to be the door of the dryer. You could use a piece of paper, I just had this handy.
Then I used a serrated bread knife to cut out the shapes. I like bread knives to use on cardboard because they are easier to handle and cut with.
I needed knobs for the washer and dryer. I went into the craft closet, pulled down the huge craft box and rummaged through it. Jenn had saved some plastic pudding cups. Perfect! I then got some pipe cleaners, as they are easy to bend and shape, and fairly sturdy. I poked a hole in the bottom of the cup, doubled up the pipe cleaner, threaded it through and then poked a hole in the cardboard backing. I had cut a piece of cardboard from the said cave box to use as the knob panel. I threaded the pipe cleaner through the panel, knotting it to secure it.
I had knotted the pipe cleaners inside each cup to secure them as well.
I then traced the face of the cup to some foam board and cut out the template. I glued them on the face of each cup to hide the pipe cleaner. I liked the bright green. :)
Here it is with the knob panel attached with knobs. I just propped it up and taped it. I used lots of packing tape. It's great stuff.
Side view of the knob panel.
I then had to make handles for the w/d doors. I used 2 pipe cleaners that I had twisted together to add strength.
Here it is. I had considered painting it, but decided against it. Pyper is relatively gentle with her toys, but the boys are a different story. They're boys after all. Their play is completely different. And let's be realistic--this is made of cardboard. It won't last very long. ((sigh))
I set it up before Pyper could play with it. I placed her iron, ironing table, hanging tree, empty detergent bottle and basket with odd pieces of laundry next to the washer and dryer. She saw it, and her whole face lit up. She said, "Oh! I do laundry like momma!" She had to go in and get her little cleaning apron before she started. Watching her play brought such a warmth to my heart.
Here she is moving her laundry from the washer into the dryer. The best thing, besides seeing Pyper play, was that this washer and dryer cost me nothing but time and a bit of imagination. Sometimes I am short on both, but today I scored.
I decided to make it out of a cardboard box. We have lots around the house with my addiction to Amazon and working at the health department. This box held car seats for the WIC program. Perfect for washing clothes! I separated the large box in half with some cardboard left over from the cave we made a month ago out of the same kind of box. 
Then I traced a dinner plate to make the opening for the washer.
I used an envelope I had nearby to be the door of the dryer. You could use a piece of paper, I just had this handy.
Then I used a serrated bread knife to cut out the shapes. I like bread knives to use on cardboard because they are easier to handle and cut with.
I needed knobs for the washer and dryer. I went into the craft closet, pulled down the huge craft box and rummaged through it. Jenn had saved some plastic pudding cups. Perfect! I then got some pipe cleaners, as they are easy to bend and shape, and fairly sturdy. I poked a hole in the bottom of the cup, doubled up the pipe cleaner, threaded it through and then poked a hole in the cardboard backing. I had cut a piece of cardboard from the said cave box to use as the knob panel. I threaded the pipe cleaner through the panel, knotting it to secure it. 
I had knotted the pipe cleaners inside each cup to secure them as well.
I then traced the face of the cup to some foam board and cut out the template. I glued them on the face of each cup to hide the pipe cleaner. I liked the bright green. :)
Here it is with the knob panel attached with knobs. I just propped it up and taped it. I used lots of packing tape. It's great stuff. 
Side view of the knob panel.
I then had to make handles for the w/d doors. I used 2 pipe cleaners that I had twisted together to add strength.
Here it is. I had considered painting it, but decided against it. Pyper is relatively gentle with her toys, but the boys are a different story. They're boys after all. Their play is completely different. And let's be realistic--this is made of cardboard. It won't last very long. ((sigh))
I set it up before Pyper could play with it. I placed her iron, ironing table, hanging tree, empty detergent bottle and basket with odd pieces of laundry next to the washer and dryer. She saw it, and her whole face lit up. She said, "Oh! I do laundry like momma!" She had to go in and get her little cleaning apron before she started. Watching her play brought such a warmth to my heart. 
Here she is moving her laundry from the washer into the dryer. The best thing, besides seeing Pyper play, was that this washer and dryer cost me nothing but time and a bit of imagination. Sometimes I am short on both, but today I scored. 
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