Kids Can Organize

When it comes to getting organized, children may seem like more of a liability than an asset. While kids can certainly be “contributors to the chaos,” they can also be helpful in establishing order. Of course, very young children have limited attention spans and skills, but it’s all about matching the task to the child. Offering an incentive (e.g. an ice cream, trip to the mall, etc.) can make tasks appealing and fun.

Here is a list of ideas to consider for a rainy (or steamy!) day:

Organizing Jobs for Kids

• Test markers & pens and throw away bad ones.
• Sort a crayon bin to find pieces too small to use and throw them away.
• Sharpen pencils
• Sort loose change into piles by type
• Put sorted change into coin sleeves
• Feed pages into a shredder
• Sort through coupons and remove expired ones
• Try on clothes and pile up those that no longer fit
• Vacuum the car (search for hidden treasures!)
• Empty out a cabinet or drawer to a table for sorting
• Choose some books to donate from a shelf
• Choose some toys/stuffed animals to donate
• Sort through the artwork they made during the year to pick out favorites to keep.
• Match lids with plastic food storage containers (and recycle any without a match)
• Search closets for extra hangers (recycle at the dry cleaner)
• Find and remove any out of date items on a bulletin board.
• Search the garage for “flat” balls… either pump up or pitch.
• Help carry items to the car/donation location.
• Search through winter mittens for matches and pitch any solo mittens
• Help label items
• Pull weeds
• Harvest vegetables