Organization is an important skill for academic success, as it allows children to coordinate materials and approach their classwork in an orderly, thorough fashion. However, not all children have the interest or inclination to keep their lives well organized. While there are hosts of productivity apps that your child can use to to support this thinking skill, it is also important that parents work with their kids to help them directly improve and understand how organization fits into daily life. Here are five simple, practical activities parents can use to help build their children’s organization skills.
Activities to Build Your Child’s Organization Skills:
1.) What type of organizer are you? Assist your child in understanding some of his own styles and strengths when it comes to managing his things. First, which type of learner is your child? Visual? Auditory? Tactile? Base the organization strategy on the type of learner he is. For example, if your child is a visual learner, draw a diagram of what his room should look like when it’s clean. Every time he attempts to clean his room, he must use the diagram as reference. It’s important to understand how he learns in order to build your child’s organization skills.
2.) Make organizing fun. Think of your child’s areas of interest. Does he like to listen to music, or would he prefer playing sports? If your child has really like playing music, encourage him to organize his digital music library. Make cohesive playlists for specific occasions. For example, a “car ride” playlist of “workout” playlist will feature very different songs. Ask your child to think about the nature of an activity before making the playlist, then instruct him to put together many different playlists, organized alphabetically, so he can find the perfect song for an occasion.
3.) Use reminders. Use visual reminders for organization for yourself and your child. Calendars, sticky notes, and other visual reminders for yourself in order to model these organizational skills for your child. Start with simple routines like putting your keys, wallet, and cell phone in a certain spot every day. Now that the objects are more visible, your child will be less likely to lose them. It’s a simple strategy, but very effective for establishing good organization.
4.) Get creative. Commission your child for a piece of artwork. Get your child to craft an organized piece, that involved patterns and repetition. The piece will be up to you to conceptualize, but your child must produce a solid effort in order to get paid his small sum. Ask your child to utilize four shapes and four colors. Tell him that they must always appear in the same color pattern which is up to your to decide. Each shape will be made up of the same, but smaller shapes while incorporating the four color pattern. Give your child the proper materials like a pad, and colored pencils, and stand by for additional help.
5.) Finish it up. Organize what you have finished. It is important to have a designated place for completed work so it doesn’t end up on the “to do” list again. Have your child write “No Homework” if there is not any assigned homework. Often, children come home with planners that have blanks next to certain subjects, which could mean one of two things: either there is no homework in that subject or your child forgot to write down an assignment. Offer a deal to your child. If your child does not write “No Homework” next to a subject, offer him the “phone-a-friend lifeline.” In other words, if your child does not write anything next to a subject, he must call someone in his class to verify this.
