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Our Laundry Blog

Laundromats Increasingly Hosting Story Time for Kids

We’ve spent some time in this space informing you of ways you can get your laundry done at the laundromat while being productive, whether you’re knocking things off your list while you’re waiting for your laundry that you want to do or need to do. But now there could be reason to bring your little ones to the laundromat with you, as more and more laundromats are including things for them to do too.

That’s because more laundromats around the country are incorporating children’s story time activities into their facilities. It’s part of an effort to enhance childhood literacy in some neighborhoods, and it’s turning out to be a win-win-win, for the parents, kids and for the laundromats themselves.  

For now, many of these laundromats offering story time activities exist in low-income or diverse communities, but there’s reason to believe that such efforts could be spreading out on a more national scale. For instance, six laundromats in New York that have implemented such programs have seen a big difference in engagement and attentiveness inside their facilities. Some have even dedicated reading corners inside of their facilities, complete with bookshelves full of child-favorite books, comfortable chairs, nice carpeting and other educational activities.

Many parents that do their laundry at the laundromat may not be able to leave their children with a babysitter or another parent, which means they have to bring them along with them. If this is the case, having a child learn to read in a literacy corner certainly beats them watching a tablet or playing a handheld video game while they wait for Mom or Dad to get their chores done. It’s a big part of why these efforts are so smart — they’re encouraging kids to be productive and have fun on something they’d likely have to accompany their parents on regardless.