Clean up, Clean up, nobody wants to do their share.....

[Heidi]

Honestly, Miss Peeps, after they go home tonight, clear out 90% of the toys and any furniture they climb on.

Wait till you see their faces when they arrive tomorrow to a near-empty room!

Then, have a circle time or meeting, and explain why. Once they learn to follow the class rules, they can earn things back.

Do you have your class room pics anywhere? Can you post some for ideas?

Also, have you gotten on the decor group? THere are ideas there, too!

[My3cents]

Along with removing most of the toys I would clean up multiple times per day so that the mess is less and it becomes part of their routine that they just do and stop thinking about. I even stop them mid-play to do a quick tidy when there is too much on the floor. Anyone that is not helping gets to finish the current pickup all alone while everyone else moves on to the next task. I do a lot of suggesting to the 2's as well. "Johnny, blocks are your job! Johnny, I see more blocks! Suzy, please put away the babies! Suzy, I see lots of baby bottles around. Please find them!" They get the hang of it pretty quickly if you're consistent and clean up a lot.

School agers who refused to clean up would be doing alot of sitting and thinking and no playing at all here! That is just not acceptable.

This is me too....

we all clean up and I suggest areas........Sue you get all the toys over there. John pick up all the books. Babies love to help, the 2's and get excited when they put something away to help. Older kids model for the little kids. Kids that don't help sit out or are left to stay and clean while we move onto other activities. Amazing how fast that non helper goes when everyone else has moved on and he can't. Non compliance- bed, usually means the child is way over tired. Doesn't happen often. I start teaching them to clean up as soon as they are able to walk. Hand over hand works well. I also use encouraging words........almost there, a few more here we need to get. Come on lets go. We can do this. We work together. I also start clean up a half hour, twenty minutes before its time to go home- if play is super good I take it on and clean it myself. We then do easy to pick up toys like puzzles while waiting for parents or a small basket of books to read at the table.

I am working on getting daycare stuff done within daycare hours so that my family time can be devoted to my family and me not back in the daycare cleaning, planning etc..

I don't let dumping of boxes happen either. They are not for playing with, they are to hold toys. I had to many being sat on and broke. I teach this early on and the older kids model this. They can play with what is in it the box, but not the box. I do have some boxes that they can play with like shape sorter types.
Took a while to get here too-

[My3cents]

I also bought those foam mats with the letters and numbers and it got put away a week later because they just took them all apart and threw them all over the play room or chewed on them.

Just feeling so annoyed.

those things stink. Even the bigger mats come apart after a while that don't have the letters and number in them. I like the shock absorb in them and warmth for playing and easy cleaning but I wish they were a solid piece instead of coming apart.

I do have a small puzzle that they have tons of fun with connecting together that are like the foam mats but tiny compared to the mats. They have fun with that. It is something I take out, we play and then we put back.

[keeked]

I will randomly give out "prizes" (play money, stickers, coupons for tablet time and getting to sit on the head chair at the table for lunch, yes we need coupons to sit in a certain chair, it's completely ridiculous) to all the kids who helped clean up. I never announce we will have prizes if you clean up, It's totally random. Then if I have to ask any of them more than twice to help, they don't get the prize and soon they figure it out and they start cleaning when first asked. Of course, we sometimes have prizes 2 days in a row to reinforce the good behavior.

The younger 2 year olds don't always understand the prize thing, but for the most part they like to follow along and their prize is usually a mini m&m. Uh huh yep, I occasionally bribe with candy.

[Laurel]

I know this is an older thread but the other day my grandson (3) didn't want to pick up outside. I was sitting on the patio with his mom and he had taken out and used all the life sized waffle blocks. There were 3 next to my chair so when he wanted help I picked one up (without getting up) and said "Here, I'll help you." He really thought I was helping him so I did it with the other two. He kept saying "Thank you Gran, that is so nice of you." So then I couldn't reach any more and wasn't about to get up, , so I told him to hand me one. He went and got one and handed it to me and I handed it back to him and he put it away thinking I was helping. It was a hoot! He was so appreciative of the 'help' too!

My daughter and I had a good laugh later but I bet she'll use that trick again until he catches on.

Laurel