Teach Kids Laundry Skills with Cute Printable Clothes (Chinese, English, Korean)
It’s science: kids learn life skills and language through play. And these cute mini clothes with English, Chinese, or Korean labels have been a huge hit with my kids and many others worldwide!
When my daughter was 3, I created this printable Montessori-inspired clothesline activity for playful learning. When I saw how much fun she had, I knew I had to share it with other families! In addition to boosting concentration and fine motor skills, she learned to say and read clothing names in English, Chinese, and Korean!
That was several years ago, and now my younger child is enjoying the clothing printables! He’s just starting to explore hands-on learning activities like big sis. And I hope your kids can also benefit from our printable trilingual clothing flashcards and teaching tips!
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Benefits of learning with our printable mini clothes
These cute clothing printables have been so versatile for learning! Kids can use them to:
- Play pretend clothing store
- Hang clothes on a clothesline!
- Sort colors
- Sort and match clothes
- Compare languages (for bilingual kids who are reading)
Confession: these mini clothes are also meant to be flashcards in disguise. In general, we are not fans of flashcards for young kids. Traditionally, they force kids into rote memorization, and many flashcards are cluttered with excess information.
However, when things are fun, interesting, and attractive to kids, they will naturally want to look at them.
Download mini clothes activity
Other supplies for clothesline activity
- Clothing template: download in simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, Korean, and English
- 8.5″x11″ colorful card stock or printer paper
- Optional: Laminator and laminating pouches for durability
- Scissors
- Cotton twine
- Colorful clothespins
- Small tray
- Mini clothesline stand
- Our stand was purchased from Absorbent Minds. Here is a similar mini stand on Etsy!
- You can also easily DIY a clothesline (see example below)
- Optional: Clear mini command hooks
*Note: The simplified and traditional Chinese versions have been updated and improved to Kaiti font and will appear slightly different than some photos.
How to set up clothing flashcards and clothesline activity
- Print templates on colorful paper
- Laminate each sheet
- Cut outside of the black lines
Tip: I recommend using plain paper so that the words stand out on each clothing printable. While patterns can be fun and adorable, words may be difficult to read.
8 Ideas for playing and learning with the printable clothes
1. Color and decorating clothes
This simple idea is probably my children’s favorite! They love coming up with their own clothing designs and adding their favorite colors!
2. Peg the matching color
Match the shirt with the same color peg! Depending on the child’s developmental skills, start with a limited number of clothes and pegs (eg, 3-4) so they do not get overwhelmed.
Also, note that larger clothespins are easier to manipulate than smaller clothespins. Ultra-mini clothespins are also easy to break, but these colorful pegs have held up fairly well over the past few years. Only have few have fallen apart from that entire set!
3. Hang colorful clothes on a clothesline
This requires much more fine motor precision and eye-hand coordination than simple pegging.
You can use a mini clothesline stand or set up a clothes-hanging area on your wall with command hooks and cotton twine.
During my son’s first attempts at hanging clothes on the clothesline, he asked me to help him hold the tank up while he clipped the straps.
With practice and gentle encouragement, he could hang up a few on his own over time!
4. Sort and match laundry by type
Have kids organize the laundry by type, such as socks together and pants together.
For kids who are reading, encourage them to look at the names of each clothing article.
5. Sort laundry by color
Talk to your child with rich, descriptive vocabulary in your target language while sorting laundry by color.
6. Pretend clothing store activity
Follow your child’s lead to see if this sparks his or her imagination for imaginative play with practical life skills!
My daughter loves to play pretend clothing stores. This has been a fantastic way to practice a conversation about making purchases and calculating money.
7. Label kids’ closet and drawers with clothing flashcards
To create a print-rich environment, you can use these clothing printables to label your child’s dressed drawer and wardrobe. This will help them learn where to find and organize their clothing.
8. Match clothes in different languages
Important vocabulary in English, Chinese, and Korean
For families who are learning new languages with their kids, translations for each clothing 衣服 (yīfú) item are listed in English, simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, Hanyu Pinyin, and Korean.
English and phonetic translations are included in a reference sheet for the Chinese and Korean printable clothes.
- Bra:
- 乳罩 (rǔzhào)
- 브라
- Dress
- 连衣裙 / 連衣裙 (liányīqún)
- 드레스
- Hat
- 帽子 (màozi)
- 모자
- Pants
- 裤子 / 褲子 (kùzi)
- 바지
- Shirt
- 衬衫 / 襯衫 (chènshān)
- 셔츠
- Skirt
- 裙子 (qúnzi)
- 셔츠
- Shoes
- 鞋子 (xiézi)
- 신발
- Shorts
- 短裤 / 短褲 (duǎnkù)
- 반바지
- Socks
- 袜子 / 襪子 (wàzi)
- 양말
- Sweatshirt
- 运动衣 / 運動衣 (yùndòng yī)
- 스웻셔츠
- T-Shirt
- T 恤 (T xù)
- 티셔츠
- Underwear (briefs)
- 内裤 / 內褲 (nèikù)
- 브리프
- Underwear (panties)
- 内裤 / 內褲 (nèikù)
- 팬티
- Undershirt
- 汗背心 (hànbèixīn)
- 탱크톱
Get the Montessori-inspired mini clothes here
Have you tried this Montessori inspired Clothesline Activity?
If you try this activity, please let us know in the comments below!
We love to hear about how other families are learning life skills while practicing Chinese, English, and Korean
