With a new month starting it is time to release a new 5 Things and this means that last months becomes available to all my readers. Last month’s 5 things was called “5 ways to Teach Your Toddlers to Clean up Thier Toys” and it was written by Rachel of Explore Kid Talk

*This post contains affiliate links for full disclosure click here.

I’m Rachel founder of Explore Kid Talk.  I’m a Special Education Teacher and a mom to two boys.  I write a Parent’s Resource for children.  This often includes activities, development and day to day life with children.  I’ve found that so many families have difficulty with keeping their children busy, happy and learning at the same time. Which is why it is my passion to give you tips and strategies to help deal with day to day life with children.  I’d love for you to take a look.

To see more from Rachel visit her website: Explore Kid Talk

When you have a toddler you also have messy rooms.  It’s just inevitable.  Toddlers are masters at making a mess.  To keep your house not looking like a disaster area you have to teach your child how to clean up.  You want to teach them young so they continue to clean up as they get older.  Getting your toddler to clean up their toys doesn’t have to be a difficult task. Make it fun.

Learn simple and effective ways to teach your toddler to clean up their toys with little effort.

1) Sing a clean-up song

By singing a song it helps your toddler follow through.  Songs make things easier and not seem like a chore.  Sing when it’s time to clean up.  Watch your toddler start to pick up items and sing some of the words as well.

2) Have Designated Places Where Things Go

If you have bins, baskets or shelves where you always put certain toys, children will start to imitate you and know where they go.  By having designated places for toys makes it easier for toddlers to understand that the toys always so in a specific place.

3) Labeling

Use labels on your bins.  Put the picture of the toys with the words or just the picture on the front.  The visual is a fabulous way for children to see where that toy goes.  Visuals help children learn and remember.  I use Mabel’s Labels to help with organization. 

4) Have a Race

Now that you have a designated space, bins and labels you can have a race to clean up.  Having a race makes cleaning up more like a game.

5) Don’t Clean Up All at Once

Don’t wait till the end of the day to clean up all the toys that were used. Waiting till the end of the day makes for a lot more to clean up.  It’s then overwhelming and children will give up.  Cleaning up after every few activities makes it a smaller, easier task to complete.  This will teach children that they can do the task of cleaning up.  It’s something they can do and finish.

Using these strategies will help your toddler to clean up their toys.  Making things easier for them will guarantee success.

Use these tips at home and let me know how it went.

Want to Read more!?!?

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5 Ways to Teach Math Using Couponing

5 Things to Remember for Back to School 

Next Months Exclusive: 5 Things to do to Teach Thankfulness this Holiday Season. 

November’s subscriber exclusive was written by yours truly. It is titled “5 Ways to Teach your Kids Thankfulness this Holiday Season.” It covers both Thanksgiving and Christmas and if you enjoy it enough you might just continue some of the things the entire year. The holidays are a time to stop and reflect over our year and what we are truly grateful for. It is also a perfect time to teach your kids how to do that as well.

For access to this exclusive become a subscriber using the form below. Current subscribers, you will be receiving your copy within the week and you can access it from the Freebies page as well.

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