Organization is a key component of children’s academic success, helping them stay on top of class schedules and deadlines, keep track of materials and assignments, maintain good notes and keep their backpacks in proper order. Signs of poor organizational skills in children include chronically messy rooms, a tendency to lose homework and forget assignments, and a penchant to start projects without the needed materials.
Fortunately, there are a number of steps parents can take to help their kids become better organized. There are a slew of useful apps and games for helping kids understand organization, as well as some fun at-home activities to improve organization in children. Read on for five fun activities you can try with your family today.
5 Family Activities to Improve Organization Skills:
1.) Plan a Party. Put your child in charge of organizing a weekend event, family movie night or other casual get together. Help your child go over all the details, but let her lead the way, choosing things like attendees, snacks and food, and the time and date. Discuss how organizing these details ahead of time ultimately leads to a better experience.
2.) Take on a DIY project. Another idea is to get a “Do It Yourself” kid’s clinic at Home Depot or Lowe’s. These clinics generally have a particular project that your child will learn how to complete. Talking about her experiences afterwards will help her to understand the components of Organization that go into completing these types of building projects.
3.) Commission a piece of artwork. Pay your child a small stipend for completing an organizational project such as a Lego construction, a compilation CD, or some other type of project that will require him to organize both his materials and his time. The commission of these projects helps your child learn vital skills, so it will be important to ask him questions as he progresses in the project, such as “do you have everything that you need,” “where are the tools that you will require to complete this project,” and “do I need to take you someplace to get additional materials?”
4.) Turn your house upside down. One organizational task that you may want to do together with your child is rearranging rooms and cleaning basements or garages. Attempt to get your child’s opinions about how it would be best to organize these areas. Brainstorm with her about things such as shelves, baskets, hangers, or other tools that will be helpful in organizing the material. Then also get her to think a little about how to put certain things together. For example, if you are cleaning the garage, it may be useful to have one section of the garage devoted to sports equipment, another to gardening tools, another for implements for winter, and another for water activities.
5.) Organize for charity. Encourage your child to sort through some of her old toys and organize those that she wants to keep and those that she wants to give away. Encourage her to think about how even when giving things away, it will be very helpful for her to have all of the pieces to a toy and perhaps even to group toys that are fun to play with together. Your child might even decide to designate a place in your house to put older toys away for charity in the future.
