Tidying Up!

Tidying up time can be one of the hardest parts of the day and can feel as though it goes on for ages with very little progress!  

Here are three thoughts to help you reflect on your practice:

• Use tidy time as a teaching time: if you’ve got 2 pencils off the floor and you find one more how many will you have altogether? 
• As an adult don’t tidy up! Support your children in tidying up through the interactions you make. If children see you tidying up then they may start to believe that they don’t need to put the effort in as someone will do it for them! This is a tricky thing as an adult to stop yourself doing but it’s worth it in the long run!  
• Transition points in the day are often the times when we see big feelings or what we might describe as more challenging times of the day. When I worked with children who needed support with managing their big feelings I found keeping an ABC record of their behaviour really useful. It helped me spot patterns in their behaviour and then search for solutions. I now realise that many children don’t just like to be told stop in the middle of doing something they love! Instead they need a warning that times are going to change. I would let the children know 10 minutes before tidy time that we would be stopping soon. Then do a 5 minute reminder and a 2 minute. This helped to prepare them for the change and manage it more calmly. 

For all my tidying up support try my new online mini course to discover more tips on tidying up here