Clean Up, Clean Up Everybody, Everywhere

This little tune is used in day care centers across the nation to help children transition from play time to clean up time and then on to the next activity. The three-year olds I taught just loved to clean up all the toys and games! Really! I had a version of this song on a CD and would play the track on "repeat" each time the children needed to clean up toys. Cleaning up wasn't a chore to them. It was just another activity, one of the rituals in their day.

In the classroom children were offered a limited number of toy, game and activity options. For instance, a child could choose to work puzzles or read books, play with Legos or blocks, play with cars or animals, etc. If the children wanted to move to another toy, game or activity, they were expected to clean up whatever they were playing with before proceeding to the next area.

Call me crazy, but I think if fifteen three-year-olds could keep my classroom toys and games neat and orderly, our homes should never look like a hurricane just tore through a toy store! So how can we keep our children's toys and games off the floor and put away? Day care centers wrote the book on this topic, so I'll share some of the tips and techniques I used when I was a pre-school teacher.

• Children may play with one toy, game or activity at a time. The toy, game or activity must be cleaned up and put away when they are finished with it.
• Children may not abuse or misuse toys and games. If they do, they are not allowed to play with the toy or game for a specified period of time.
• Toy storage bins, baskets, and shelves should be a child-height for easy access and clean up.
• Toy storage bins and baskets should be labeled. For young children, find pictures of the toys that belong in each container and attach the picture.
• Rotate toys and games every few weeks. Don't have every toy and game out and available all at one time.
• Reserve some toys, games and activities for special occasions like a rainy day, when a best friend comes to play, or when mom and dad can play with the child.

Maybe you're not a stickler for the "one-toy-at-a-time" rule. That's okay! Clean up time can be fun and even educational. Again, drawing from my day care experience, make cleaning up toys and games a game in itself and while they're at it they learn sorting-an important pre-math skill! Put on some lively music. Line up all the toy storage bins, baskets and toy containers down the middle of the room. See how quickly everything can be put away in its proper place.

When all the toys and games are cleaned up an in their proper place celebrate with a treat or watch a favorite video together.