Hellobee Boards

We've started reminding him, "If you get it out, you have to put it away," and that actually seems to help a lot, surprisingly. If he's trying to move on to another activity, then we say he can't do X until he cleans up Y. If he's super-resistant, I ask him if he'll help me clean up, which often works because he loves to be a "big helper."

I used to be very relaxed about picking up, but it got ridiculous and now I have to put some rules in place and it's very challenging.
It's not so much that I need stuff organized, I need it up off the floor or off the table, so i have come to rely on bins. I don't care if the cars are mixed up with the trains, and that's helped a lot.

I helped him, for a while. Then I started sitting next to him holding a box saying things like "Can you bring me all of the blue blocks?" or "Can you put 3 red blocks in the box?". At 3 I expect him to put away what he takes out, but he's pretty great about putting toys away before I have to ask.

Most days he is fine cleaning up and I think a lot of that has to do with daycare. But there are days on the weekend that we don't push it that much and just have fun then clean everything up all at once at the end of the day. We often have "races" to see who can put away the most toys in the correct spot. Works like a charm when he fights it!