How do you encourage a tired child to join in at tidy-up time? Denise Bailey offers some practical tips
'Time to tidy up' are words that can strike dread into the heart of even the most positive and experienced of early years practitioners. Every day and, for some of us, twice a day, that time arrives - and it arrives when everyone is tired and grumpy.
Most practitioners will recognise the following scenario: staff race around washing paint pots, tidying table-top activities, trying to find all the jigsaw pieces, sweeping up the sand, tracking down lumps of dough and returning home corner items scattered throughout the setting.
Meanwhile the children continue playing, hide, lie under tables pretending to pick up pencils, 'busy' themselves transporting pieces of Lego across the setting or read a book and ignore the mayhem. And there is usually someone lying on the carpet waving their feet in the air saying 'I can't do it, my legs won't work - look.'
Does it really have to be like that? Well, no. Organise a brainstorming session to establish the cause of the problems. Do the children simply not know where to put things? Do a few children join in enthusiastically while others do very little? Every setting will have different concerns to address.
Ensure that the children are prepared for tidying-up by giving them at least five minutes' warning. This should give you enough time to put in a safe place any of the children's work in progress.
If children are unsure where to put things, review your labelling systems.
- Make sure that labels have both the written word and a picture of the resource.
- Label the different areas of cupboards where jigsaws, games or other materials are to be stored.
- Label containers for paintbrushes, scissors and glue in the creative area.
- Use silhouettes as much as possible. For example, draw coloured silhouettes of items for the sand or water tray, and stick them on the appropriate shelf or trolley.
Point out the labels to the children and encourage them to check they are putting things in the right place.
Encourage older children to act as role models for younger children. Praise their contribution to tidying up and empower them to show others what to do and where things go.
Tidy teams
If children remain reluctant to tidy up, divide them into small groups with, if possible, an adult in each team.
- Assign each group a section of the setting to tidy and discuss what needs to be done, such as hanging up the dressing-up clothes.
- Encourage the children who are engaged in tidying and suggest simple jobs to others to get them involved. Always remember to praise any examples of positive behaviour.
- This system works well if the children tidy up one specific area for a given time, for example, each day for a week. They quickly learn what has to be done to achieve a tidy area and feel pride in reaching their goal quickly. Have a checklist in each area so that children can have the satisfaction of ticking off each tidying-up task when it has been completed.
Have realistic expectations of the children. Some will be able to play an active part in tidying up while others will struggle to understand why adults insist on putting certain things in certain places and so will become exasperated by the whole process.
- Acknowledge that for some children tidying up requires new skills, knowledge and understanding. Remember that your professional role is always to try to move the children forward and so approach tidying up with the same degree of understanding and planning that you would approach any other activity in the setting.
- Recognise that everyone involved in tidying-up is tired. Consider what children do when they have finished tidying up and are waiting for others to finish. Do they sit in the carpet area? Do they go to care group areas? What do they do there? Read books? Decide what is appropriate and establish the routine, so that everyone knows where they should be and what they should be doing.