MAKE IT FUN - with music, whilst singing a song with a strong beat, races- can you put the lego away before. Have labelled / pictured draws, boxes, containers etc ( easier to find where things go)Įncourage children to tidy as they play, saying, put. Sometimes children will put something away that another child was wanting to play with later, ie: a puzzle, sometimes it is ok to pick peices off the floor but leave the puzzle on the table for later, other times the puzzle needs to be put back in the draw ( end of day) Make clear the difference between tidy-up and clear/put away. Here are a few more strategies that can help ( not in any particular order) I also give a warning prior to tidy up time, 'finish.we have 5 minutes and then it's time to tidy up' ( I often point to the clock when the big hand is on the 4) or 'you can finish your model etc after our walk, but first we need to tidy up the other toys' ( also a motivator, child likes going on walks) It needs to happen very quickly or children get bored and start 'playing' with items they should be tidying They said 'no, it's tidy up time' I replied 'are you?, good, well done, let me help you' Then you get the ones who once they have been told it's tidy-up time, walk around calling out to everyone else 'Tidy-up time, Tidy-up time' I tricked them once by saying ' up time tidy, up time tidy, just to check if they were really listening to me. You will always have the child who tidys up straight away, some even tidy as they play, others as soon as they are asked will try every diversionary tactic going :wacko. Tidy-up time is the bain of most settings, different strategies work at different times depending on the individual children in the group. Gosh you must be tired come the end of a day.

Tidy up tidy up put your things away