Toddler Week 70

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Clean Up, Clean Up

Having a toddler is a great reminder that learning can be fun and that they remember more when they learn through play than in any other way!  When you play with your child, you many not even realize how much she is taking in… her mind is like a sponge!  So lets make cleaning up fun for her, shall we?  Yes, it will be repetitive, but that’s how toddlers learn and master new tasks – through repetition. 

Prior to diving right into teaching your child about cleaning up, make sure that your home is somewhat organized. You may want to have a designated area for her toys, book, puzzles and etc.  I have toy boxes that are labeled books, puzzles, balls and blocks.  All the other toys go into a miscellaneous box.  I know it’s hard to keep everything in these specific boxes and the toys will always get mixed up, but it helps while teaching your toddler to clean up to sort toys by type and by starting with an organized space.

Lets say that your toddler took out the box of blocks and plays with them for a while.  Once you notice that she is starting to lose interest in them, or if it is time to go, you will want to tell her that cleaning up is about to start.  Remind her that it will be time to clean up the blocks in three minutes.  About a minute later you can tell her: “Okay, two minutes and we need to clean up the blocks.”  Finally, “One minute and we’ll clean up the blocks.” Once the three minutes are up, take the empty box, (the one the blocks were in) place it next to the blocks on the floor and start singing a clean up song to make the task fun.  Singing a song like the one Barney, the purple dinosaur, made famous is a great way to make cleaning fun! “Clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere, clean up, clean up, everybody do your share” is meant to make cleaning up a fun task rather than a chore.  Help her clean up – you can also take turns and incorporate saying “my turn” and “your turn.”  If she is just sitting there watching you, go ahead and use your hand over hers to pick up a block and place it in the box.  You may keep repeating the song until all the blocks have been picked up.

You can even make up your own song with your child’s name in it!  Cleaning up will come and if it is a struggle in the beginning, sustain it on a daily basis.  Soon the expectation will be set and your child will realize that cleaning up after play is a necessary part of life.  She’ll get the message!

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