Guest post on organization

A guest post by Stephanie 
Stephanie was an Early Child Educator for ten years. Here she shares some of her favorite tips for helping keep toys organized with kids! 

First of I would like to say that I feel privileged that Wendi asked me to do a guest post; we have never met face to face we only each other from our mutual friend Joia (I went to high school with Joia and from her blog I started reading Wendi's). I have not blogged before so lets see how this goes.

Toy Organization Ideas:

• Take pictures of the toys and tape them to the buckets that the toys belong in or the shelf they sit on. The children with time & repetition will learn that when they were done with one toy they are to return it to its home. Then they can get another and so on. (See picture 1 below).
• Makeup games with the kids for cleaning up ... like let's see how fast you can clean up that mess & time them or see how many they could put in a bucket at a time.
• Only put out so many buckets at a time. (Sometimes too many toys are overwhelming and help with the fun of dumping them all over the place.) After a week or two, if you notice one bucket not being played with, then swap them for other toys. This helps with less mess & it's like the kids forget about some toys for awhile, and then when you swap them it's like, "Hey! New toys!"
• There's also the option of (had friends do this at their home) if the kids are not cleaning up tell them that if they aren't cleaned up then that toy would be gone and follow through (put them in a place where the kids won't find them.)  If they want those toys back, they need to earn them back by cleaning up and helping you! This is a life learning experience -- learning to clean up and to take care of their belongings.
• With them helping clean, they can earn stars for a special treat at the end of the week like cake or ice cream or a fun movie or a dollar store treat from a prize box.
• Lastly, if you think there's too many toys or toys they really don't play with have them, have them help you you donate them. My one friend at Christmas would have her son pick a few toys he's out grown or doesn't play with any more donate them ... then IF He got new toys he'd have more room for them.

This helps them learn that its nice to give and share and help to declutter.

Some other ideas to help keep little hands busy if you're making supper or need them to sit still (hopefully) for a bit... see web sites below. Please remember though to double bag these feely bags (some children are pretty strong) and use duct tape all the way around the edges.

• Feely bags
• Busy Babies

It may take some time but with patience & perseverance I am hoping these ideas may help some one out there!

Picture 1

Picture 2