How many times have you told your kids to go clean their room only to find them pulling out more toys 20 mintues later? I felt like I had to sit in my kids rooms and direct them from one thing to the next in order to keep them on task. Then I came up with this simple cleaning chart to help my kids do it without me.
It breaks down the normal clean up into the most common tasks (make your bed, pick up toys, pick up books, etc.) The chart has two columns, To Do and Done. When we go in to the room, I have them pull off all the jobs (they're velcroed on to a piece of laminated cardstock). Then we look at the room and figure out which of the jobs need to go in the To Do column and which can go in the Done column. They place the To Do jobs in the order that they think will be the easiest. Then they get to work. When they finish the first job, they move it to the done column and then move on to the next To Do. When their To Do list is empty, they come and get me for a final check.
It's also really handy to use throughout the week. If I notice a big mess in their room, I'll shift a couple of the jobs over to the To Do column. Whenever they want to do something special like earn TV time or computer time, I ask them if they're To Do column is clear. If it's not, they know just what to do to take care of it...without my interaction.
The best advantage of this chart is that my kids can now do this mostly on their own. They've figured out that if they can break a job down into tiny pieces, they can do a lot more without help. This chart just provides the tools they need to do just that...no nagging required.
2 comments:
Where did you get the board and pictures? Are they just clipart from Printshop or something similar? I might do something similar for "Get Ready to GO". Somehow my 7 year old forgets what he needs to do to get ready to leave the house each day. Any aditional info would be great.
THanks, MomOfTwo
I think that's a great idea. I should make one of those for my daughter.
As for the art, I make almost all my files in MS Word so I tend to use the clipart included in Word. Just clik the Insert menu at the top, then choose Picture, then select Clip Art.
If I can't find what I'm looking for within Word, I usually click the link to Microsoft Office Online. They have tons of free, high-quality images there too.
I print the base on heavy white cardstock and then mount it on another piece of colored cardstock. I then laminate them and add the adhesive-backed velcro.
Hope that helps. Thanks for the idea.
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