Letting a child freely explore is, well, very messy. The explosion of blocks, dolls, and books may leave you a bit overwhelmed. But, clean-up and other household activities are a vital part of a young child’s growing independence and can be capitalized on to promote growth and responsibility! That sounds great, but how do you make Clean-Up fun? Switch it up with these handy tips from some of our awesome teachers:
- Sing (or play) a song! The duration of a song is usually about 3 minutes. Let your preschooler help you choose a song for each set of toys: can you put away the blocks to “Catch That Train” or stack the blocks to “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”? This will help your child understand that the task has a beginning and an end and also be entertaining!
- Sort while you stash! Affirm your child’s developing math skills by having them find and put away everything that is RED or maybe all of the ROUND toys on the floor. Then, move onto BLUE or SQUARES or another category. This will also help keep things interesting as they tidy.
- Make it playful! Put a giant laundry basket in the middle of the room and toss all of the balls in. Race to see who can put blocks away the fastest. Divide the room down the middle and see whose side gets tidy first. Chores for young children should be full of fun!
Tweet us your great ideas for integrating fun clean-up times into your classroom or household routines!