Homes, Trades and Games of Long Ago · Drawing 28 of 40
Laundry day
Washing by hand
Without a washing machine, laundry can be done by hand. Clothes are rubbed on a washboard with water and soap, then rinsed and hung up to dry.
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
A washboard is a tool for washing by hand: clothes are rubbed against its surface. Québec’s Répertoire du patrimoine culturel describes a wood-and-glass example recorded in the religious heritage collection of the Diocese of Saint-Hyacinthe. It gives no manufacture date. Our drawing brings together a tub, a board and laundry to evoke this work; it does not assign a laundry day or a soap recipe to every household.
The picture opens a conversation about everyday chores and the tools that went with them. Compare with how laundry is done at your house today, and look for the clothesline in the drawing. Practices varied from home to home; the scene does not represent every family.
Sources and illustration notes (2)
Original simplified illustration for colouring; not a historical document.
These links lead to other websites. Explore them with an adult. References identify the institution and the related lesson; some linked pages are in French.
- Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec — Planche à laverObjet d’entretien domestique en bois et verre; pas de date exacte retenue.
- Dictionnaire de l’Académie française — PlancheDéfinition de la planche à laver comme plaque rainurée employée pour la lessive; aucune datation québécoise n’en est déduite.
Source review: 2026-09-15. Illustrations simplify places and scenes; they are not historical documents.
