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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Clean Up Time
sahm2three 01:26 PM 04-27-2010
Ok, do you expect the kids to clean up on their own pretty much? The ages that I have during the day are 6 1/2, two 5 1/2 yo, 4 yo, and 3 yo. So I put on fun music and tell them to get things picked up and help them get started. I usually check back in about 10 or 15 minutes and 9 times out of 10, NOTHING has been done. I don't have the time to follow then all around and ask them to pick up each and every item. What do you do? I have two treasure boxes as rewards. One is a daily treasure box with small things in it they get to choose from like stickers, bouncy balls, stuff like that. Then we have a bigger treasure box with inexpensive action figures, small bottles of bubbles, matchbox cars, pretty hair things, lots of fun stuff. If they have been good and picked up well all week, they get to choose something from that box. But what I am wondering, is am I asking too much? I am not crazy about how perfect it is. I go in there on the weekends and reorganize. So what do you think?
nannyde 01:58 PM 04-27-2010
Mine start cleaning at 18 months. We NEVER pick up toys. The kids do all the cleaning. Not only do they pick up but they organize the toys to "right" them. Everything goes in it's place. Blocks are taken apart and put back into the center of the block table. Dolls are put back into the doll house. The kitchen fake food is organized. The cars are lined up. Everything is put back every day each clean up time. We only have one small "catch all" bin that has single purpose toys in them. All the other toys have a place and are put back together.
What we do differently is to supervise every single second of the clean up. We don't allow anyone to not clean when it's clean time. Start that as soon as they can "sort" and stick to it every day. When they know you will enforce it then you can say "go clean toys" and they will clean the entire room, sort everything back into it's spot, and organize without any problems. If you don't stay in the room they simply won't do it.
You don't have to help them. You can have it done at a time you are doing something else but that something else HAS to be in the room. Proximity control is the only way to make this happen exactly right every day.
When the toys are properly picked up, sorted, and "righted" they will have a much better play time next time. For example... if we allowed them to they would just throw the duplo blocks back into the center container in put together pieces. When they go to play next time the "castle wall" will already be built. If they are required to disassemble every block every day they have to start from scratch when they build on the table.
If you allow them to throw all the fake food into one container they won't play consistently with the pieces. If you have them put eggs with eggs... hot dogs with hot dogs... cheese with cheese etc. in their own containers then they will play with the food every day. Disorganization breeds poor play. It's good for them to have the experience of sorting, cleaning, and "righting" everything in the room. It teaches them to do it all from start to stop and do it right.
Start with them when they are able to sort and never let up. Good rule of thumb is not to let it get too out of hand. If the floor becomes too cluttered they have to stop and clean. We have our kids clean before lunch, before nap, and before leaving in the evening.
What we do differently is to supervise every single second of the clean up. We don't allow anyone to not clean when it's clean time. Start that as soon as they can "sort" and stick to it every day. When they know you will enforce it then you can say "go clean toys" and they will clean the entire room, sort everything back into it's spot, and organize without any problems. If you don't stay in the room they simply won't do it.
You don't have to help them. You can have it done at a time you are doing something else but that something else HAS to be in the room. Proximity control is the only way to make this happen exactly right every day.
When the toys are properly picked up, sorted, and "righted" they will have a much better play time next time. For example... if we allowed them to they would just throw the duplo blocks back into the center container in put together pieces. When they go to play next time the "castle wall" will already be built. If they are required to disassemble every block every day they have to start from scratch when they build on the table.
If you allow them to throw all the fake food into one container they won't play consistently with the pieces. If you have them put eggs with eggs... hot dogs with hot dogs... cheese with cheese etc. in their own containers then they will play with the food every day. Disorganization breeds poor play. It's good for them to have the experience of sorting, cleaning, and "righting" everything in the room. It teaches them to do it all from start to stop and do it right.
Start with them when they are able to sort and never let up. Good rule of thumb is not to let it get too out of hand. If the floor becomes too cluttered they have to stop and clean. We have our kids clean before lunch, before nap, and before leaving in the evening.
Vesta 02:40 PM 04-27-2010
My rule is that you can't get anything else out until you put what you are playing with away.
It takes a little time to get a new child on board, but once they do, they automatically put away things before moving onto something else.
****BUT**** I'm on them like white on rice and have an open floor plan that allows me to see them at all times unless I'm using the facilities.
If I do see a child trying to shoot off to play with something else I usually just have to say their name and they know what they need to do.
If they decide they don't need to pick up I will take them back to the toy, help them put it away, guiding their hand if I need to. Depending on the amount of fuss put up, the toy will be available to them again, or it will be off limits for a while.
When I can trust that the child will put things away like I expect I allow them to use the toys together, like using blocks and dado cubes with the dinosaurs and cars to make a city, but I have to believe that they can and will put it all away properly.
Nothing wrong with having them gain your trust by showing you they know the appropriate behavior.
It takes a little time to get a new child on board, but once they do, they automatically put away things before moving onto something else.
****BUT**** I'm on them like white on rice and have an open floor plan that allows me to see them at all times unless I'm using the facilities.
If I do see a child trying to shoot off to play with something else I usually just have to say their name and they know what they need to do.
If they decide they don't need to pick up I will take them back to the toy, help them put it away, guiding their hand if I need to. Depending on the amount of fuss put up, the toy will be available to them again, or it will be off limits for a while.
When I can trust that the child will put things away like I expect I allow them to use the toys together, like using blocks and dado cubes with the dinosaurs and cars to make a city, but I have to believe that they can and will put it all away properly.
Nothing wrong with having them gain your trust by showing you they know the appropriate behavior.
judytrickett 02:47 PM 04-27-2010
I don't clean up toys. The kids do it. I start them as soon as they start in care at 12 mth old.
I do clean up times at transition times. So, if you want a snack you better clean up.
Same goes with lunch and home time. NO ONE is getting anything or going up to wait for the parents unless the toys are cleaned up.
Try that and see how it goes.
I do clean up times at transition times. So, if you want a snack you better clean up.
Same goes with lunch and home time. NO ONE is getting anything or going up to wait for the parents unless the toys are cleaned up.Try that and see how it goes.
Former Teacher 03:39 PM 04-27-2010
The little boy I watch is 2 years old. He knows that in order to play with something he must put something away.
Its funny because on Mondays when I go to work the house will have toys all over the place. Yet I will NOT allow him to play with anything until he cleans up his mess. He gets away with it for mom and dad. Not me.
Its funny because on Mondays when I go to work the house will have toys all over the place. Yet I will NOT allow him to play with anything until he cleans up his mess. He gets away with it for mom and dad. Not me.
melissa ann 03:42 PM 04-27-2010
The kids clean up the toys. The kids are 13 mos, 3, and 4 ( not including my own 3 and 5 yr old. The dck kids were 1and 3 when they first came and they pretty much clean up by themselves. The 13 month old even helps sometimes with putting the legos away. Sometimes they are real good at cleaning up and other times, I have to be on them every 10 -15 mins and it can take them over a half hour.
sahm2three 03:48 PM 04-27-2010
Ok, good! I thought maybe I was being too harsh. My house is set up not quite as open as some of yours it sounds like. Most of the toys are in my basement. It is an awesome space, and the kids LOVE it! We have a play room that is huge, a living room that is also quite big, a bathroom, my oldest son's bedroom, and a storage room. The dck's have access to everything in the bedroom except the storage room and my son's bedroom (we had issues with stealing early on 
) So all the kids ages 3 and up spend a lot of time down there in free play time. I am back and forth between downstairs with them when the baby is sleeping and upstairs making lunch/snack etc. I have a baby monitor downstairs as well as upstairs so I can hear goings on even when I am not right there. So all this to say, I am not always right there during clean up times, but maybe I will start so that they know they must put things away right where they go. Thanks everyone! 
) So all the kids ages 3 and up spend a lot of time down there in free play time. I am back and forth between downstairs with them when the baby is sleeping and upstairs making lunch/snack etc. I have a baby monitor downstairs as well as upstairs so I can hear goings on even when I am not right there. So all this to say, I am not always right there during clean up times, but maybe I will start so that they know they must put things away right where they go. Thanks everyone!
originalkat 04:19 PM 04-27-2010
I have the kids clean up. I do help them get started by assigning kids to a particular box of toys to clean and singing the clean-up song. All toys must be sorted into the correct box every time we clean up. I do not give out prizes/treats on a regular basis because the kids start to expect this. If I see a child working particularly hard or diligently then I will hand out a treat once in awhile.
It sounds like your group just needs some training.
It sounds like your group just needs some training.
misol 07:52 PM 04-27-2010
sahm2three, I have been having the same issue and was also wondering if I was expecting too much from my group. I have two 3yr olds, a 2.5yr old and a 19 month old. Based on everyone's responses I see that my mistake has been not supervising them the whole time. I would tell everyone it's time to clean up and then assign jobs (Billy, you are in charge of legos, James you are in charge of dolls, etc.) They would start cleaning and then I would go fix snack or change diapers only to come back to the same mess!!! Based on everyone's responses, I see now that job assignments are not enough and that I have to WATCH them the entire time. Now that I know the "trick" I'm actually looking forward to clean-up time tomorrow. I will be watching them like HAWKS until every toy is put away. Thanks nannyde for such a thorough answer!
QualiTcare 08:43 PM 04-27-2010
Originally Posted by nannyde:
Mine start cleaning at 18 months. We NEVER pick up toys. The kids do all the cleaning. Not only do they pick up but they organize the toys to "right" them. Everything goes in it's place. Blocks are taken apart and put back into the center of the block table. Dolls are put back into the doll house. The kitchen fake food is organized. The cars are lined up. Everything is put back every day each clean up time. We only have one small "catch all" bin that has single purpose toys in them. All the other toys have a place and are put back together.
What we do differently is to supervise every single second of the clean up. We don't allow anyone to not clean when it's clean time. Start that as soon as they can "sort" and stick to it every day. When they know you will enforce it then you can say "go clean toys" and they will clean the entire room, sort everything back into it's spot, and organize without any problems. If you don't stay in the room they simply won't do it.
You don't have to help them. You can have it done at a time you are doing something else but that something else HAS to be in the room. Proximity control is the only way to make this happen exactly right every day.
When the toys are properly picked up, sorted, and "righted" they will have a much better play time next time. For example... if we allowed them to they would just throw the duplo blocks back into the center container in put together pieces. When they go to play next time the "castle wall" will already be built. If they are required to disassemble every block every day they have to start from scratch when they build on the table.
If you allow them to throw all the fake food into one container they won't play consistently with the pieces. If you have them put eggs with eggs... hot dogs with hot dogs... cheese with cheese etc. in their own containers then they will play with the food every day. Disorganization breeds poor play. It's good for them to have the experience of sorting, cleaning, and "righting" everything in the room. It teaches them to do it all from start to stop and do it right.
Start with them when they are able to sort and never let up. Good rule of thumb is not to let it get too out of hand. If the floor becomes too cluttered they have to stop and clean. We have our kids clean before lunch, before nap, and before leaving in the evening.
you're so right. i feel like i've said that before? Mine start cleaning at 18 months. We NEVER pick up toys. The kids do all the cleaning. Not only do they pick up but they organize the toys to "right" them. Everything goes in it's place. Blocks are taken apart and put back into the center of the block table. Dolls are put back into the doll house. The kitchen fake food is organized. The cars are lined up. Everything is put back every day each clean up time. We only have one small "catch all" bin that has single purpose toys in them. All the other toys have a place and are put back together.
What we do differently is to supervise every single second of the clean up. We don't allow anyone to not clean when it's clean time. Start that as soon as they can "sort" and stick to it every day. When they know you will enforce it then you can say "go clean toys" and they will clean the entire room, sort everything back into it's spot, and organize without any problems. If you don't stay in the room they simply won't do it.
You don't have to help them. You can have it done at a time you are doing something else but that something else HAS to be in the room. Proximity control is the only way to make this happen exactly right every day.
When the toys are properly picked up, sorted, and "righted" they will have a much better play time next time. For example... if we allowed them to they would just throw the duplo blocks back into the center container in put together pieces. When they go to play next time the "castle wall" will already be built. If they are required to disassemble every block every day they have to start from scratch when they build on the table.
If you allow them to throw all the fake food into one container they won't play consistently with the pieces. If you have them put eggs with eggs... hot dogs with hot dogs... cheese with cheese etc. in their own containers then they will play with the food every day. Disorganization breeds poor play. It's good for them to have the experience of sorting, cleaning, and "righting" everything in the room. It teaches them to do it all from start to stop and do it right.
Start with them when they are able to sort and never let up. Good rule of thumb is not to let it get too out of hand. If the floor becomes too cluttered they have to stop and clean. We have our kids clean before lunch, before nap, and before leaving in the evening.