1. Field of Invention
A method and articles of clothing designed to teach relatively young children how to fold the articles of clothing. The method and articles of clothing utilizes the placement of either matching pairs of illustrations or fold line illustrations on the article of clothing to be folded. By sequentially matching the paired illustrations, or folding along the fold line illustrations, the article of clothing [or other object] is properly folded.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Children of relatively young ages have great difficulty in learning how to properly fold clothes. With younger children, efforts utilized in teaching the proper method of folding often becomes extremely frustrating for both children and parents. As a result, parents avoid teaching children how to fold clothes while the task of folding becomes a chore without reward.
The complexity of folding is related to the fact that in order to properly fold a shirt, a pair of pants, or skirt, various steps must be taken to properly fold different portions of the object on top of itself to arrive at a proper fold. To perform the proper folding steps children need to comprehend the geometry associated with each object as well as the proper placement of portions of the object on top of itself to arrive at a completed proper fold. These concepts are difficult for young children to comprehend and remember and are never considered an enjoyable or educational opportunity. Accordingly, parents often fold their childrens' clothes and defer teaching their children how to fold until later years.
Relatively young children do have certain skills that can be used to overcome these problems. Specifically, children of relatively young ages can recite the alphabet, count number, recognize patterns and pictures and assimilate various other similar concepts. Additionally, children enjoy participating in events where they can apply their newly learned skills to the world around them and often enjoy receiving an indication or reward for having completed a task properly. Finally, it has been found that children enjoy using their sense of touch, sound and sight in combination while learning, often responding quickly to such multisensory experiences. Nevertheless, these skills have not been applied to teaching children how to fold clothes or other objects.
Various attempts have been used to teach children how to dress. In particular, U.S. Pat. No. 4,253,197 to Posta and U.S. Pat. No. 3,775,775 to Mazzenga are generally directed to solving such efforts. Other attempts have been used to entertain or educate children by placing illustrations on garments. Specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,101 to Slezak and U.S. Pat. No. 4,710,979 to Poole et al.
None of the apparatuses or methods disclosed in the above-identified U.S. patents disclose a method or apparatus for teaching children how to properly fold clothes.
Therefore, the principal object of this invention is to provide clothing suitable for teaching children how to properly fold their clothes.
Another object of this invention is to teach children how to properly fold their clothes by sequentially matching pairs of illustrations.
Another object of this invention is to teach children how to properly fold their clothes by sequentially folding their clothes along fold line illustrations.
Another object of the invention is to provide a reward to children after completing a proper fold.
Another object of this invention is to teach children how to properly fold shirts, pants, and skirts.
These highly desirable and useful results are accomplished by the present invention of teaching children how to properly fold clothes.
Objects and advantages of the invention are set forth in part herein and in part will be readily appreciately here from, or may learned by practice with the invention, the same being realized and attained by means of instrumentalities and combinations pointed out in the appending specification and claims.