Developing organisation

Hope you all had a great Christmas!

As your children are showered in new toys, I wanted to remind you of yet another first world problem, having too many toys…

Having a selection of toys to choose from is fantastic, it allows your child to find things that they are interested in, which will keep them busy and concentrating for extended periods of time. This builds their attention span, develops their self-control and the self-discipline to work hard because of an intrinsic desire to do so. This joy of exploration and learning, as well as an extended concentration span, are the building blocks of your child’s lifelong learning.  

Too much choice is another thing though. It isn't easy to make a choice if there are too many options. Not easy to keep track of what is there and what they really enjoy. It also starts getting harder to be organised, to have order – externally and internally. It seems that a much better option to having a mass of options on offer all the time, is to have a select amount, which can be rotated with new activities when they seem to have lost interest in them.

A rule of taking one out, for every new one that goes in might be a good plan of action here. Not gone forever, but a rotation of sorts, where you have a box in the garage and subtly tuck away the old toys that your child isn’t interested in anymore. I am sure that if they haven't outgrown it, something you bring out again in a month will be met with a new level of interest as they see it as something new and exciting again.

When your child starts preschool the first things that they will need to learn is the ability to make a choice as to what they would like to work on and how to keep a tidy and organised environment. Other than respect for the environment, the main rule in the classroom is that the children can only have one activity out at time. Before they start something new, they need to put away their rubbish and pack away all the parts of their previous activity. This is an example of a shelf of practical life activities at school: 

Every activity has space and is clearly set out on it's own tray/ container. This makes it easy for the children to know what is involved with each activity and know where to put everything away again. 

 I am trying to prepare Jake for starting school and being able to keep a tidy environment at home by replicating this kind of set up. The photos below are of his play area, where he has a table and a large mat area to do activities on. I can see that the two smaller shelves are set out in a way that helps Jake to keep things tidy. They have activities on trays or in small baskets and it is easy for him to see what he needs to take out and easy for him to understand what needs to go back on the shelf before the next activity is started.

Big bins don't make it easy to see what is in there, encourage your child to tip it all out to see what it contains and lead to collections of odds and ends that can be just chucked in...

Organised shelves with open trays make it easy for your child to make a choice, easy for them to put everything away and stay organised.

The larger shelf is far less successful, the problem is with the big blue boxes. These seem to become the go to place for odd items, a jumble of bits and bobs. These toys either don't get used because they are in a big jumble and not very visually accessible or they get tipped all over the floor and a big mess is made so that Jake can see what is in them or find what he is looking for. It would be much better to have all of their contents put away in the shed and brought out when there is space for them to have their own tray, where they could be presented in a more accessible way. I am cleaning out these boxes, except for the one with Duplo, and changing this space and I invite you to take a look at your children's play area and edit any areas that you see as not helping your child make a choice or maintain order. 

     

    

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