Rosie’s Rainbow Washing Line

A colourful story about noticing and helping at home.

On Saturday morning, Rosie’s mother carried a basket of clean washing into the garden. “Would you like to help?” she asked. Rosie nodded. She liked jobs that had pegs.

The first thing in the basket was a red sock, as bright as a ladybird. Rosie clipped it to the line with a peg. Snap! “Red,” she said.

Next, she found an orange T-shirt, the colour of a ripe mango. Snap! “Orange.” Then she found a little yellow dress that looked like sunshine. Snap! “Yellow.”

A green towel came out next, the same green as the grass. Snap! “Green.” Then a blue pair of pyjamas, as blue as the sky on a good day. Snap! “Blue.”

The basket was nearly empty. At the bottom, Rosie found a deep purple tablecloth, soft and heavy. Her mother helped her lift it up to the line. Snap, snap! “Violet,” said Rosie.

The wind blew, and the whole line fluttered. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. It looked just like a rainbow stretched across the garden. “Look, Mum!” said Rosie. “We made a rainbow!”

Her mother laughed. “We did. And look, you are an excellent peg-snapper.” Rosie felt proud. She had helped, and the washing looked wonderful.

When the clothes were dry, Rosie helped to fold them, too. She put the red sock with its pair. She put the yellow dress on her bed. At the end of the day, she gave her mother a big hug and said, “Can we do it again tomorrow?”

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