Now that the girls have a bunch of new toys and things to play with/do it seems like the house is getting destroyed at a much faster rate. I feel like I'm the one picking up after them, and I think they are both at an age where they can help at least a little bit. I want to teach them to pick up what they are currently playing with before getting something else out. Have you had luck with getting your LO to understand this, or is it something for kids that are a bit older? My girls are almost 2 and 3.5.
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She's a little over two and it's hit or miss. Most days, she is okay with picking up as we go. With naps being a mess these past few days, she has not been wanting to and it has caused a lot of tantrums.
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I'm big on putting toy 1 away before pulling out toy 2. She's 3.5 and generally doesn't remember until I remind her but once I do, she's usually very good about going back to toy 1 and cleaning it up.
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My son is a little over 3 and we struggle with this. I do think 2.5/3 is old enough to understand the concept, but I also feel it's the adult's responsibility to remind/facilitate the clean up. One parent usually has to supervise the clean up or else he just gets distracted. Lately it's helped us to limit the amount of toys he has access to & have specific places where items go (our old method was "wherever they fit").
If he fusses a lot or refuses, I do tell him I can clean up for him but anything I clean up goes in the garage, because if he can't clean it up then he's not ready to use that toy yet. -
Lo is close to 3 and she'll clean up most of the time if I remind her. Only when she's really kissing up will she do it with no prompting lol. With lots of little pieces and parts (I'm looking at you, Calico Critters!) cleaning up before taking something else out is a must. Everything would be lost under furniture/broken if not.
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LO is 3 and we stick pretty closely to putting one thing away before getting another out. She understands. If she's built something in Lego or has train tracks set up, I don't make her put those away.
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my son is almost 3 and i've been having a better time with this than when i tried to do it around 2.5--he could do it, he was just being defiant. when i tried doing it around 2, i think it was very hit or miss because he didn't quite get it and also i'm not as consistent as i should be.
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DS is 22 months and he understands this. We usually have to remind him about it though, "if you want another toy, please put this one away first". However, he will often do it himself if we are leaving somewhere (ie church nursery) or if he wants a snack. I've been working on it for a long time because clutter drives me nuts.
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E is usually terrible about this and it ends up with me picking the toys up, cheering her on to join in, while she asks repeatedly for the next toy! But..... this morning she was playing with her Peppa pig house, figures, car, playground etc. I left the room and, when I came back, she was playing with her kitchen and all the Peppa toys were back in their box!
It must have been a fluke!
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This is a battle I choose not to have. Little one is so good at independent play, and I don't want to mess with it. If she's hopping around from toy to toy but I'm able to make dinner/feed the baby/do laundry/etc, I'm just not going to mess with it for the sake of getting into a tug of war over picking up before moving on to something else. When it's time for play time to be over, then she and I clean up everything together. At school they make them clean up what they are doing before moving on and she does do it there.
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I wish I had instilled this in my son when he was little. At 4 years old he is terrible with putting toys away. I have a friend who her son knows to put a toy away before he can get something else out and I'm just so envious of it!
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@Bao: my older one is 3.5 and they definitely get the concept. I just have to remind her.
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My older one (3:5) gets the concept but insists he is not done playing with the former item. He starts Montessori in a week and I'm hoping it will help
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@Truth Bombs: In the same boat with you. I choose not to have this battle. We clean everything up before bed, all at once.
It must have been a fluke!
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