Ideas to help kids clean up
When you are caring for young children at home or in preschool for years as I did, one of the biggest struggles can be getting them to clean up and pick up. The self help skills are really hard to start late, and it's always a good idea to start them as early as possible to create great habits.
For that reason I thought I'd share something I recently did to help Emmett start to learn how to pick up and some other tips I have based on my experience.
Shelf Labels--This really, really helps young children. You take a picture of your toys, and tape the picture to the shelf or near the wall where it goes! For starters, they can SEE where the toy's place is. Also, now cleanup isn't just a chore, it's a matching game! Make sure you laminate or cover in packing tape well. Here are the ones that I made for Emmett's room--trust me, it's never to soon. I also included the name of the toy so he can be exposed to letters/words while he picks up!
You also might find these helpful:
Clean Up Songs:
They really work. Children hear the song and switch into working mode. It makes it more fun ofcourse, but music is a very powerful form of conditioning as well, and it helps cement the focus for the task at hand. I've used this one for years, and yes....(roll eyes) it's from Barney! LOL. It goes like this:
"Clean Up, Clean Up
Everybody Everywhere
Clean up, Clean Up
Everybody Do Your Share"
and this one:
"It's time to put things back where they belong
Clean Up, Clean Up, Clean Up Song
Let's Clean them up by the end of this song!
Clean Up, Clean Up, Clean Up Song!"
Either can be sang to any tune or simply chanted while you clap. Also effective is clean up "music" which can be anything you want it to be!
Other ideas:-You can make it a game by having a clean up "race" or only cleaning as long as the music is playing, which can help younger children who dread the task. They foresee a tangible "end" to the task which makes it much more tolerable.
-You can count items as you pick them up, or tell the child to pick up things by category, like "Find all the blue toys".
-Give kids a choice, "You may pick up the cars or the blocks today. I will help you. What do you choose?"
-Last but not least, the best tool you can ever use for clean up with a young child is a kitchen timer! Once they learn to understand it's meaning, the timer is SUCH a powerful tool. Always stick to a short amount of time with young children.
