Teaching Children How to Clean and Organize
I was in a cleaning frenzy yesterday morning and we never got around to schooling at all.
I recruited the boys to help me thoroughly clean all the rooms upstairs (including their own); we washed, organized, sorted, dusted and vacuumed.
I haven't always had my children working alongside me as I clean and organize but find that the older they get, the more important it is that they learn these skills.
My kids all know how to vacuum, dust, sweep and even organize. We often talk about grouping like items together. Finding a home for everything we own and sorting through those things we no longer need or use.
It's a valuable life skill that they'll use for many years to come.
They asked for my help cleaning out the toy bins outside once we were done. As tired as I was after 3 hours of cleaning I agreed to help. We emptied out the toy bin on our patio; even scraping out the excess sand and leaves that had found their way inside and started sorting through.
I was completely dumbfounded when the boys willingly got rid of three garbage bags of toys. They all had to agree on what to get rid of and what to keep and they worked together to get the bin all organized again.
I taught them to group like items together and we found bins and containers to keep like items together while still inside the giant toy box..
It was lunchtime by the time we finished cleaning and all the boys eagerly brought their lunches outside to the patio and asked me to read a few chapters in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
They then spent some time wading in the water, blowing bubbles, sifting sand and trucking it around the beach.
Evan wanted to see if bubbles would float and if they last longer on the water than they do floating through the air or on the ground and spent considerable time trying to blow bubbles onto the lake.
They took the bubble wands around the house and blew bubbles acting like Hermione and Harry making protective enchantments around the house. The bubble wands soon turned into regular wands and they cast spells and had mock battles. The boys turned into Leo, Jason and Piper from Heroes of Olympus and Ian worked to control fire while Evan called on the power of lightening and Alec used Katoptris to "see" the future. They had so much fun playing together and it was such a nice day outside.
We ate outside since it was so nice and the boys begged me to read a bit more Harry Potter. We then rode our bikes and scooters to their grandfather's house and back. We again reviewed the rules of the road, the importance of watching for traffic and cars, and which side of the road is the correct side to ride on.
I recruited the boys to help me thoroughly clean all the rooms upstairs (including their own); we washed, organized, sorted, dusted and vacuumed.
I haven't always had my children working alongside me as I clean and organize but find that the older they get, the more important it is that they learn these skills.
My kids all know how to vacuum, dust, sweep and even organize. We often talk about grouping like items together. Finding a home for everything we own and sorting through those things we no longer need or use.
It's a valuable life skill that they'll use for many years to come.
They asked for my help cleaning out the toy bins outside once we were done. As tired as I was after 3 hours of cleaning I agreed to help. We emptied out the toy bin on our patio; even scraping out the excess sand and leaves that had found their way inside and started sorting through.
I was completely dumbfounded when the boys willingly got rid of three garbage bags of toys. They all had to agree on what to get rid of and what to keep and they worked together to get the bin all organized again.
I taught them to group like items together and we found bins and containers to keep like items together while still inside the giant toy box..
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| So much neater! |
They then spent some time wading in the water, blowing bubbles, sifting sand and trucking it around the beach.
Evan wanted to see if bubbles would float and if they last longer on the water than they do floating through the air or on the ground and spent considerable time trying to blow bubbles onto the lake.
They took the bubble wands around the house and blew bubbles acting like Hermione and Harry making protective enchantments around the house. The bubble wands soon turned into regular wands and they cast spells and had mock battles. The boys turned into Leo, Jason and Piper from Heroes of Olympus and Ian worked to control fire while Evan called on the power of lightening and Alec used Katoptris to "see" the future. They had so much fun playing together and it was such a nice day outside.
We ate outside since it was so nice and the boys begged me to read a bit more Harry Potter. We then rode our bikes and scooters to their grandfather's house and back. We again reviewed the rules of the road, the importance of watching for traffic and cars, and which side of the road is the correct side to ride on.
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