Summertime: The Perfect Time for Kids to Organize Their Spaces
Yahoo! School’s out and summer’s here (finally)! If you have kids, I’m sure you are both excited for what the summer holds and nervous about keeping them engaged and entertained. We have some thoughts on what they can be doing right now before summer camps and other activities vie for their attention. Set out the following goals, and of course share with them that there will be a great reward at the end of this project. A summer blockbuster movie night is one possibility.
Turn on some of their favorite tunes, then provide snacks for breaks, trash bags for trash/recycling and hand out two or three big boxes for them to put donations in. To make it even more fun (and more motivating) make each goal a race, complete with, “On your mark, get set, go!”. The winner of each race gets to pick the music for the next race. You will be amazed how much of this list is accomplished!
GOALS:
- Completely clean out the school backpack and determine now if it can last another year, or if it needs to go on the back-to-school shopping list. Same with the lunch box.
- Clear school papers off desks, setting aside a few special items to go in their school days keepsake box, and recycling all that are no longer needed.
- Get out all summertime clothes and determine which they have outgrown. Donate those items. Neatly put away all of the remaining “keep” items and make a list of any summer necessities to be purchased.
- Go through summertime accessories (sunglasses, googles, swimwear, flip-flops, etc…) and do the same as above.
- Have each child make a Summertime Top 5 Bucket List. Read through them as a family to decide what is do-able. It’s a great way to give each child a voice in what they want from their summer! Then schedule the things that are agreed to so that you can start having FUN!
This activity not only allows each child to review his/her own belongings and organize them based on individual needs, it allows them to start practicing goal setting. These are life skills that are important and will really benefit them in the long run.
