This is something I saw done in a classroom when I was student teaching. Now I use it with my kids at home. We call it the Mystery Piece. It’s amazing how quickly a room can be picked up with a little fun and motivation! My kids seriously scramble around and clean up in about three minutes. My 3-year-old even asks if they can please clean up his bedroom and the kitchen too!
- Choose which room you need picked up miraculously fast.
- Pick one item in the room (without telling the kids what it is!) to be your Mystery Piece.
- Our rule is that things have to be put away where they belong
Not just thrown into another room. I help clean up too.
- Whoever picks up the Mystery Piece gets a small reward. We have done:
- an M&M or little treat
- they get to choose the next activity
- a point, a sticker or whatever your incentives are at the time.
- Helps
- They know we won’t find out what the Mystery Piece is until the entire room is picked up.
- It helps to say “Ooh, it’s looking good, but nobody has found the Mystery Piece yet!”
