From Early Stories to Today · Drawing 26
Laundry day
Long ago
To wash clothes, people could rub them on a washboard. This work took water, soap and effort.
Look together
How do the hands move to rub the cloth?
An idea to try
Pretend to rub a cloth, then to hang it up. Let the child choose a movement for the adult to guess.
For the adult reading along
A little more to discover
Québec’s cultural heritage catalogue includes a washboard made of wood and glass. It recalls washing by hand: wet cloth was rubbed against a surface to help clean it. The selected record is not used to assign an exact date to this scene.
The picture invites a conversation about everyday movements and the tools used with them. Compare these with how laundry is washed in your home today. Practices and equipment could differ between households; the scene does not represent every family.
Sources and context
These links lead to other websites. Explore them with an adult. Source titles appear in their original language; some linked pages are in French.
Source review: 2026-09-14. Illustrations simplify places and scenes; they are not historical documents.