Fire and ambulance staff were called to a laundromat in Whanganui on Wednesday afternoon after a child became shut inside a drier.
The girl climbed in to the drier while her aunt and uncle were attending to the washing.
The 9-year-old girl said she did not know why she got inside the machine but said her brother had shut the door.
Her brother said he shut the door because his sister asked him to.
The children's uncle called emergency services and Whanganui Fire Service officer Bob Wills-Rawlings said hand tools were used to free the girl from the machine.