I look at pictures like the one above and think “ahh, if only!” It would be great to think kids could maintain such a neat and organised space to play in. But the reality when my kids were small was that expecting them to achieve that level of tidiness had about as much chance as Olaf from Frozen in … well, you get the picture!
Reality always looked a lot more like this:
As a parent, I had better things to do with my life than tidy up after kids all the time. So teaching them to tidy up after themselves was of great importance. Plus, on a bigger scale, tidying up teaches kids a whole lot of life lessons they need to learn.
So what’s the secret? For me, it comes down to 3 things.
1. Keep it Simple
The easier it is for kids to pack up, the better the chance they’ll do it. Some people find a great big toy chest, where everything can be tossed at the end of play time, is a great solution.
Personally, although I like it as a solution, I found the next time playing commenced, the whole lot tended to get tipped up on the floor in order to find that one little piece of something that had slipped all the way to the bottom of the chest.
Still, having a couple of tubs, drawers or baskets with specific purposes can help avoid total chaos erupting every time the kids play. Ikea is always a good place to start, with solutions like Trofast.
Add a few decorative labels for broad categories, such as “soft toys”, “railway”, or “farm animals”, and at least when your kids want to build their railway they only have to upend one crate. It’s easy to create your own version of this using one of the many storage cube units available in stores, along with baskets or boxes that fit in each section.
2. Keep it Fun
Kids love to play games, so rather than making them feel like tidying up is a dreary chore, find ways to make it fun. That can start with some of the items you use for storing toys. Again Ikea has some ideas to get you started:
Beyond that, let your imagination take flight.
- Make up a silly song
- Beat the timer game
- Race against each other
- Musical cleanup – freeze when the music stops
- Slam dunk contest for soft toys
- Rewards chart
Basically, whatever works for your kids, depending on their ages and what’s being tidied up.
3. Supervise
Yep, you may have already worked this out, but if you want your kids to learn how to tidy up, then you have to teach them and support them. That’s not the same as doing the work yourself, but it does involve you being present, at least to begin with. Even Mary Poppins taught the children to tidy up by initially demonstrating how it was done.
If you make it simple, make it fun, and stay firm in your expectation that they do their bit in tidying up after themselves, then maybe, just maybe, you can have a toy room that looks like the one at the top of the article.
Okay, maybe now I really am dreaming!
Feature image photo credit : http://juventinita.com/organizing-playroom-ideas/