Corners and countertops are cluttered, you’ve stepped barefoot on a Lego again and you just found your crumpled fun fair assignment in the bottom of a backpack, due tomorrow.
Happens all the time. Take a breath and listen to Joe Scruggs’ delightful song “By the Way” from Deep in the Jungle. He gets it.
But imagine your household transformed. Everyone, including the preschooler, puts belongings in orderly, purposeful places, and not just on chore day. Coming and going is smooth and efficient. The household runs on time with an easy, unhurried schedule. No lost or forgotten items. Cooperation.
This fairytale is actually possible, say early childhood educators, and turning pandemonium into peace is easier than you think. Here’s how to teach organization and time management life skills to preschoolers, and reclaim your own balance at the same time.
What is your goal?
Start by deciding what you want to teach your preschooler. “Each parent, each family, has to define what routines help everything go smoothly,” says retired educator Polly Jamison. “The adults have to be organized themselves to model the repeated routines where one activity is put away before starting the next activity, and what family members need to depend on each other for.”
In general, you’ll need to create an uncrowded daily routine that allows for priorities to be done at a pace that suits every age, including meals, playtime, tidying and the all-important beginning and ending rituals of the day that show love and care. A rushed day ruins the routines that can nourish joy.
An accessible redesign
The next step is to modify your preschooler’s space. Use baskets, bins and hooks labeled with words and simple pictures. Low, accessible shelves replace drawers and high shelves. Tip: turn a vertical shelf unit on its side to create cubbies for your preschooler’s room. Also place a step near the bathroom sink for toothbrushing and handwashing, with a special plastic cup for the child’s toothbrush labeled with a word and picture. Shop second-hand stores for containers to get started on a budget.
Set up a low table and child-size chair near the toys for projects. Consider laying out a plastic table cloth for messy art, or do these projects in the kitchen where there’s more freedom and easier cleanup. A rug or sheet can define a larger floor play area to keep small objects from going missing under furniture.
Allow for space on at least one shelf where small toys can be lined up instead of binned. This, Jamison says, is especially desirable for children with autism who often like to create very specific arrangements.
“Children with autism thrive with organization,” says Jamison. “Moving from one activity to the next can be very challenging. Predictability helps move from one thing to the next.” If having a name-labeled coat hook, weather chart, simple calendar or other feature your child is accustomed to at preschool can recreate what’s expected at home, do that. And be enthusiastic about it. Let them know they’re learning to do things on their own, “Just like at preschool!”
Having places for toys and clothes that children can reach allows for more independence and responsibility – skills for life. “They can decide what they want to do and how they want to engage,” says Meleah Berkowitz, director of the Westminster Cooperative Preschool in Springfield.
“This gives children tools to help them manage and find their stuff,” says Keri Tate, a teacher in the Westminster program. “Make it as easy as you can for them. Their lives are just as complicated as ours.” Tate offers this tip. “When I bought a toy for my children, I bought a container for it at the same time and made it part of the present.”
Even young children can put clothes on hooks, socks in baskets, toys in bins, a backpack on a hook by the door (possibly in a shelf-and-hook cubby where the frequently grabbed things go, such as lunch box, dance shoes and so on), and car supplies in a basket by the car seat. Label storage locations and containers with matching simple words and single-image pictures for ease of use and to help develop language skills for prereaders.
There’s a financial benefit, Berkowitz adds. “We have had to repurchase something that was lost more than once.”
Make it fun
The respectful parent will give a child some notice that cleanup time is coming in five minutes, for example, so the child can get to a stopping point. Then, use a cue such as the “Clean up Song” and a game to make cleaning up become a welcome habit in transitioning to the next activity.
“Model how to clean up,” says Tammy White of the Early Learning Center in Springfield. “Do it together. Offer positive, gentle reminders. Provide visuals for where things go. And don’t expect perfection.” If children can succeed putting things in the vicinity of where they go, she says, the parent can do the finishing touches later.
And be consistent every day so children know what’s expected. Simple picture charts of steps to do an activity can help. “Having routine and structure helps create an environment that feels safe,” White says, “and doesn’t require a lot of constant instructions.” White uses first-then language. “First put away what you’re using, then we can …”
Let children know why doing various activities is important, says Jamison. For example, taking off pajamas and putting them under the pillow in the morning will make them easy to find at night. Having fun “parking spaces” labeled with chalk or tape in the garage or basement for the child’s riding toys and bins for balls keeps them organized and out of the way. Storing books near a favorite reading chair or by the bed allows for gentle wind-down times.
Too many toys, not enough storage?
No problem! Consider inviting children to choose a like-new toy that hasn’t gotten much use and donate it.
Put special collections that don’t fit into cubbies, such as dinosaurs, farm toys or train sets, into stackable bins in the closet. Use storage cases for small cars.
For toys that have temporarily lost some appeal but are worth keeping, make a rainy day bin that you only bring out on special indoor-play days.
Rotate seasonal toys and books. When the season changes, bring them out and enjoy conversations and discovery walks about weather, nature, occupations and so much more.
And, Jamison concludes, designate a very special trunk for the toys that are truly prized by the child. Save that as a keepsake and heirloom “forever for you.”
The point of teaching organization isn’t to get rid of stuff and control the clock. It’s to create joy and ease for children growing into independence as successful students and adults. Everyone wins.
DiAnne Crown is a freelance writer based in Springfield.
This article appears in Parent Winter 2025.
