Give Them a Chore You've Been Meaning to Tackle

The Junk Drawer

For kids, cleaning out junk drawers is a bit like discovering treasure. Have them start by separating and putting like objects together in piles. For the pens and markers, give them a piece of scratch paper to write on. If the writing utensil doesn't work, chunk it.

Finally, grab some dividers and small baskets from the dollar store, and let the kids rearrange the items back inside. Not only will that be one less item on your To Do list, but it will have kept them occupied for a while. Please be warned you will be interrupted several times with amazed "Ooh! Look at this!" and "Look what I found!" comments, as well as curious "Mom, what's this for?" and "Can I have this?" remarks.

(Additional hint: this type of activity works best on a bad weather day, when they can't go outside to play.)

When Was the Last Time You Cleaned Out Your Closets?

I guess the spring cleaning bug hit me early (because of our unusually spring-like weather this time of year, you think?) Or maybe it was because I was looking for glitter, knowing I had some, yet I couldn't find any! For whatever reason, since I had never actually organized my closets (red face here), I decided to take on cleaning out One Shelf a Day. I bought some baskets from the dollar store, grabbed a few box lids from the trash bins, and now I have organized closets (this is the ART closet. I also have one for LANGUAGE ARTS, MATH, and SCIENCE.)

As an added bonus, I found some tiles and picture puzzles I didn't know I had that can incorporate into my centers and 10 Minute Smarters! (Another plus is that it'll be so much easier to do my end-of-the-school-year inventory!)