Search Results for: centers

5 Days of Organizing & Cleaning TOYS into Centers: Selecting

August 20, 2012 by Jules 1 Comment

When my hubs and I started talking about having babies one of the things we discusses was TOYS. Matt mentioned that he would like if our house didn't look like a toys store and would love if the living room wasn't overtaken by toys. I agreed and thought that was a reasonable request. Thus, the "centers" began.

With just Maggie, our 2 bedroom 1 bathroom house was easy to keep clear of too many toys. Over the past 3 years we've double the size of our house and family. Here are a few key things we've set in place to organize and minimize the TOY craziness of life with kids. These tips are to know what toys to keep, which to share, how to maintain a pick-up home quickly while allowing your child to help in the process as well as instilling in them some independence.

We purposely keep very few toys. We purge so often that it's often the 'talk' among relatives if their toy will make the cut {sorry guys!}. We want to keep it simple. Here is the criteria for keeping a toy: educational either physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. There are so many kids in this world that have nothing, we don't need to hoard crazy amounts of toys. Why not share!?
We attempt to be purposeful about toys we have. We generally don't do Happy Meal toys, stuffed things, or small pieces. We enjoy basic things that can be used in a variety of play arenas {example: blocks- used from staking, pretend furniture, to detailed cities layouts; dolls- comfort, pretend friend, to parenting skills}. We generally don't buy toys. Well, let me explain that one. Relatives and friends will more than likely always provide plenty of toys for our children and we do get our children 1 toy for holidays {mainly Christmas/Birthday...usually}.
We have chosen not to have toys in our children's rooms so they know bedrooms are just for sleeping. Providing your child with a restful environment that is peaceful, dark, quiet, and almost boring is the best way to encourage good sleeping. NOTE: we are about to transition into a smaller home and may not have this luxury, like most families. I am not saying this is a MUST.
We have had many ways to organize the toys. We used to have "adult colored" baskets of toys in the living room but they were easily slipped under the coffee table or off to the corner. When we moved into our current home and had the HUGE blessing of a playroom we still stuck with baskets but they are now there are more of them {as are there more children} and they divided more specifically.
We rotate toys so our children stay interested in what they have and so there aren't too many scattered around the house. We never put all new toys out after a holiday. A couple are places among the other toys, a few older toys as well as the rest of the new toys are put into a closet and rotated out later. Some times our children have been know to be "grounded" from a specific toys for being selfish with it, or for mismanagement such as not it cleaning up when ask or playing with it rough or inappropriately.

Hope these are some practical hints to help you manage the Toy Monster that eeks into everyone's house the moment you find out your pregnant ;o) If you have any awesome ideas, we'd LOVE to hear them.

NOTE: We are about to transition to a new {smaller} home so we'll see what kind of organization comes with that and keep ya update! I do know it will be even MORE important to be selective about toys with less storage space!

This is the 1st in a week long series. See you the rest of the week for:

Tuesday 5 Days of Organizing & Cleaning TOYS into Centers: Dramatic Play
Wednesday: 5 Days of Organizing & Cleaning TOYS into Centers: Manipulitives
Thursday: 5 Days of Organizing & Cleaning TOYS into Centers: Reading
and the finale on Friday: 5 Days of Organizing & Cleaning TOYS into Centers: Sanitizing

edited repost

This post series is linked to 21 other lovely ladies doing a variety of tops for the 5 day series on organizing and cleaning.

Just when you thought the giveaways where over...We’re also going to be having several giveaways that begin on the 1st day of the series and end on Saturday, the 25th of August. Winners will be announced on Sunday the 26th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Click the footer below to find all the topics,links to each, as well as a list of all the giveaways and more Rafflecopters!

Filed Under: 5 Days of Organizing & Cleaning, Cleaning, Homemaker, Organizing, The Ones about Post Series, The ones about the Rothacher Home Tagged With: 5 Days of Organizing & Cleaning

How-To Make Preschool “Centers” at HOME

May 15, 2012 by Jules 7 Comments

Remember you own preK or kindergarten?

I sure do! As a kindergartener I remember hours of fun; moving from one area of the room to the next. Feeling like a grown up being able to find exactly what I needed, being able to put it away on my own, having freedom to travel the room choosing what to do.

Have any of you ever worked at a preschool? Visited a daycare?

I have worked in several as a work-study job and in many others as a substitute teacher. While studying in college to earn my Psychology degree I remember going back and forth between class and subbing. It was amazing to see the things I was learning in class in a tangible way as I watched the children. "Centers" help hone in their creativity. Simplifies so while still having choices they are not overwhelmed. Simple organization goes a long way in making them feel secure and not scattered like their toys. Here are the centers we have INside:

Manipulative Center

We currently have lots of different manipulative: Puzzles, baby toy manipulative, Playdough, etc. These toys and tools enhance children's fine motor skills and helps strengthen their hands, helps with eye-hand coördination, helps improve their writing skills.

Art Center

The art and Playdough supplies are on the top shelves because I don't yet allow my kids to do these things without supervision or at least permission. We do these while the "baby" is napping. There are infinite numbers of how this center developes creativity in children as well as motor skills through working with the Playdough, steering scissors, maneuvering glue, paper and other supplies, and yelling writing utensils.

Music Center

We currently have lots of different instruments that all fit on this shelf {minus the large piano} including record player, piano, 2 microphones, bongos, radio, and 5 maracas. This center may seem like a pointless reason to have unbearable noise but music can "enhance the intellectual development of children, stimulate brain function, and produce gains in test scores." (1)

Block Center

We currently have a set of large Lego blocks {multi colored} and a small set of Jinja blocks {light wooden brown}. These are great for all ages. Just some of the possibilities for learning are: construction, transformation, measurement, spatial relationships, classification. It can even built language skill when they are asked to tell about their creation.

Board Game Center

We currently have LOTS of board games. This shelf only contains the building, matching, and simple games they can do on their own.

Little People Center

We currently have a set a basket of people, a basket of animals, and a few vehicles for the Little People. This center is similar to the dramatic play center but has smaller 'dolls' to play with works as a 3rd person play, pretending what someone else is doing rather than yourself. We often add empty boxes to this play as furniture, buildings, etc.

Vehicle Center

We currently have this center divided into trucks/trains and cars/buses just because we have so many. Our favorite thing to do with our vehicles is

Dramatic Play Center

Currently we have a large kitchen set with tons of food play {lots of variety}. We also have a 'dress up' corner, baby shelf, and lots of baby accessories throughout the playroom. This provides the opportunity for learning rolls for later in life: Parenting, cooking, home maintenance, cleaning, and endless number of other career options that can rotate in and out of this long-term center.

Reading Center

We currently have a single book shelf that houses all of our children's book {except a small basket of "bed time" books and Bibles in the girls bedroom}. I have them sorted according to age-appropriate by height {unfortunately my ~18 month old can almost reach the top shelf}. I have the baby books {ie board books with mainly pictures} on the bottom shelf accessible to all ages but most enticing to the youngest {shortest}. THe middle shelf has more board books that contain more words {needing longer attention span} and are reachable by all kids. The top shelf has "real page" books/paper back books as well as books with pop-ups, or pieces that would be better read by an older child or with help. Having access to books builds a love for reading. They feel more like toys or privilege and not an assignment or chore. This center developes a love of words, encourages motor skills, thinking skills, reading comprehension, as well as the ability to sit still building on attention span. "The number of words one knows as well as the depth of understanding of those words is related to the ability to think."

I couldn't find a simple way to summarize the importance of reading so I've added links to some articles about reading at an early age:
10 Reasons Why You Should Read to Your Kids
What is the importance of reading to a child?
Another article on Ten {more} Important Reasons to Read to Your Child

That may sound complicated but we basically group like things together to help my children know where to find things, where to put them away, and makes it easier to have them play with few things at once cutting down on mass chaos in the playroom.

Do you have a toy "system" that works for you? Please share!!!

Another great read is by Alina Joy over at HC, My Toy System That Keeps Itself Clean!

Return for 5 Days of Organizing & Cleaning TOYS into centers!!!

Citations
(1) Rausher, 1995 via Isbell & Raines "Creativity and the Arts with Young Children 2nd edition

Linked Up to

Filed Under: Homeschool, Organizing, Parenting, The ones about the Rothacher Home Tagged With: baby dolls, baby toys, board games, development, dramatic play, dress-up, little people, music, organization, preschool centers, puzzles, Vehicles

Playroom Organization {Settled In September}

September 20, 2013 by Jules Leave a Comment

I have posted in the past about our system of centers. I've even created center labels as well as names for the kids to "check in and out of" centers to try and maintain organization and get them to clean their own toys up. This worked for a while and Definitely works with large numbers of children {ie daycares/preschools} but it got a little legalistic in our house and I wanted to simplify when we moved.

This time I made new tags {and still have some to be completed} to label the baskets. I LOVE the baskets, bens, tubs, whatever you call these canvas things. They keep everything organized while making it simple to put things away- chunk it back into the basket!

Library Basket
Home Library {sorted}
Playdough Center
Electronic Center
Puzzle Center
Computer Center
Baby Toys
Ball Center
Music Center
Dress-Up Characters
Potato Heads
Wooden Blocks
Vehicles
Mega Blocks
Homeschool Supplies
Little People Center {village}
HIPPY School Work
Dress-Up Accessories

Inside our closet we have the Doll Shelf & the Dress-Up Costumes/Outfits as well as extra books {for higher level reading}, large toys {pop-up tent & tube}, and scrapbook supplies on the top shelf.

In case you were wondering:

red book basket {hanging on the wall}- $2 flea market find/spray painted planter
black bookshelves- Wal-Mart {similar to THIS tall one and THIS short one}
plastic book bins {on top of shelves}- oriental trading {wish I had a gazillion more}
labels- homemade printable {available at the end of the month}
square canvas bins {ON SALE}- target, home depot, anywhere I could find them cheap
rectangle canvas bin {one in doll shelf as well as other places throughout the house}- Wal-Mart {years ago}
doll house/shelf- handmade by my grandparents YEARS ago & revamped a few years ago
quilt rack {dress-up storage}- Pier1 as a wedding gift years ago

Filed Under: Cleaning, Decorating, Homemaker, Homeschool, Organizing, Parenting, Settled In September, The Ones about Post Series, The ones about the Rothacher Home

Activities for Littles & Winter Sanity {Thoughtful Thursday}

March 14, 2013 by Jules 1 Comment

I know its supposed to be turning spring...really! Any day now. But if you live in Arkansas or any state with bipolar weather like AR then you know you're gonna need some tricks up your sleeve this month {and maybe next month as well} for those days when the brisk wind is more like ice daggers. Today I wanna share 3 silly things my kids love that cost little to nothing and entertained them for quite a while.

Pipe Cleaner Art

I had some construction paper, pipe cleaners, and {glitter} glue already in our craft supplies. My 4.5-year-old just went at it! Twisting and gluing. My 3-year-old was having a little more trouble. I ended up cutting lots of different colored pipe cleaners into tiny pieces. Then she told me what picture she wanted to make. I sketched the picture she described with a marker then I helped her outline the sketch with the glue, adding different colors to each part of the picture. They both really enjoyed it!

Indoor Water Play

You may remember we recently went to an awesome indoor playground called the Wonder Place. It was filled with numerous educational centers to play in, one of which being the giant water table. My kids spent the majority of our visit there. This reassured me that my plan to make a homemade outdoor water table for this summer was definitely gonna be worth it! BUT seeing as how we are still in transition and the weather is not exactly conducive to wet outdoor play, we modified our water play.

I filled our kitchen sink with warm water and dish soap. Simply giving them a few "tool" {strainer, spoon, fork, whisk, different sized cups & bowls, grater, etc} to do "experiments" with kept them more than busy.

I wasn't quite comfortable with my 2-year-old standing on a chair, step, or sharing the bench with his sisters for a prolonged period of time...there may or may not have been shoving involved. I chose to give him his own small tray of water with soap, and some safer tools on top of a drop clothe. #winning

Playdough Art

My kids all three love Playdough, like most kids. They do seem to get bored with the same ol' roll, smash, etc. They haven't quite mastered the molding concept yet. Soooo, I have saved a silly amount of cardboard circles from frozen pizza and we decided to use them in our playdough-play. We made, pizzas, faces, several other meals, and lots of "imaginary" things...

Once I got them going on these activities and gave general 'rules', they played interdependent very nicely. Giving them a "new game" seems to help them play well together as well as stay focused for a little longer.

Hope these help spark some ideas in these last few weeks of wacky weather and indoor boredom!

Filed Under: Homeschool, Parenting, The Ones about Post Series, The ones about the Rothacher Home, Thoughtful Thursdays

Top 10 Count Down of 2012

December 31, 2012 by Jules Leave a Comment

2012 has been...Crazy full. I'm thinking my one word for next year needs to be "simplify".

I started setting up this site in January of last year and then launched it on February 1st 2012. I had only started blogging about 7 months before that and fell in love with it right way. I had forgotten how much I loved writing. Some days my poor mamma brain doesn't have enough juices flowing to write anything but a "Thoughtful Thursday" but even giving how-tos gives me a smile. Half the time I'm reading a blog it's for a how-to. I love when I find out those I'm reading love Jesus.

You may have noticed I don't have a category or tab about "christian __" or "God ____" or anything of the sort. I believe just like I've found on these other blogs that when you love Jesus it will ooze out into everything you write. When you become a Christ-follower that doesn't mean the personality God gave you goes away. You should have to only read things about specific Bible verses. Everything you own doesn't have to have some cheesy scripture reference on it. You don't have to sing The Wheels on the CHURCH Bus Go Round and Round to teach your children God's love. That's why here on my tiny slice of the net I'm trying to share Christ as I am going.

We've gone through different themes on the 'old site' and even some major visual changes here. You put up with my typos and bad spelling. God has blessed me so much through this little community. You guys {well...prolly mostly ladies} have been such an encouragement as I've tried to share the realness of my life here. THANKS!

I thought it would be fun to share the "Top 10" post {according to my stat counter} of 2012. Without further ado:

Top 10 Count Down of 2012

Tied for 10th place are That day and 5 Days of Organizing & Cleaning TOYS into Centers: Selecting

It felt really good to write out "That Day" and the 2nd two post about my journey through depression. I learned more than a few of my friends are going through the same things and simply putting it into words was therapeutic even before the positive feedback. It totally lead me being gutsy enough to publish more realness. There are too many Pinterest-esk blogs out there that make us all hate ourselves.

5 Days of Organizing was really cool to see at the top of the chart as well. Since this past year, the trend seems to have been, I write a post about some kind of system or organization I'm starting and the next month it flops because of lack of energy on my part. The toy "Centers" in our house may not flow like a preschool with the Velcro names I made and are now missing but at least everything still has it's place and the kids can find things super easy! There may be a follow-up on this post, How-To Create "Centers" in a SMALL home, if we ever get to move ;o)

9th place So...my husband went back to prison yesterday...

This was a fun post to write trying to see the positives of handing over my hubs to the AR Department of Corrections for 3 months. That's how I roll. I can totally be serious when necessary but some times you can do nothing but joke about something to get through it!

8th place DIY Address Plaque {Thoughtful Thursday}

I laughed when I saw this one climbing. If you are a Facebook friend of mine, you KNOW I am slightly obsessed with taking pictures...of everything! I happen to be making an address plaque for our home before we listed it for sale and decided to share it since it didn't turn out terrible. Thank you Pinterest for pinners liking a simple project, even if mine is a little off centered ;o)

7th Place The night I Almost got Scammed by the "US Military"

Again with the have-to-laugh just to get through a retarded situation. I think I lost my lil mom-brain for 1/2 a second on this one. Matt was gone to camp, our jeep just exploded and we were in need of a car. I LOVE deals of any kind and I almost got scammed in the process. Apparently sharing this escapade has helped several people not get scammed by the same people. Your welcome scammers ;o)

6th Place The New Adventure

I've enjoyed sharing updates on our life. THIS was a huge life change and I think lots of our friends were surprised to hear we were heading out on a new {slightly off base for us} adventure after 2 short years in a new town as youth ministers. I was {and still am} excited to talk about this New Adventure God is taking us on BUT this was just a 'teaser' to send everyone to my hubby's blog where he shared the news.

5 Golden RIIIIINGS! Ooops, I mean 5th place Who are the dechurched?

I probably owe a lot of this popularity to a lil blog called the Bohemian Bowmans who guest posted for me. Knowing that a large portion of Vilonia {the town we're moving to start our new adventure} is made up of the "De-Churched" I knew I wanted to share about that on here. Since I'm technically not de-churched, I wanted a perspective from someone who was and had shared about it often. I stepped out on a ledge and took a chance by asking a blogger I read weekly to guest post on this topic. Jessica agreed and I think it helped my readers, friends, and potential new 'church members' understand our heart at The Valley. It also got my name out there and landed me an interview with Vivienne McNeny {download HERE}. God is GOOD! He wants His gospel out there even more than we do! duh

4th Place My Laundry Room Smells Like Poop {Thoughtful Thursday}

Slap stick comedy works in blog titles, too. I amuse myself by trying to come up with catchy titles that will draw people. Hopefully after they're hear, have read the title and the possibly alluring intro, they are too disappointed with the rest of what's offered. B'wahahaha In my defense, an uncleaned front loader really does smell like poop!

3rd Place DIY Organic Bloom Fram(Sugar & Spice Baby Shower) {Thoughtful Thursday}

I had fun writing this and almost feel bad it made it on the top 10...it's a contributing post for the Homemaker's Challenge. Most of the traffic is coming from search engines. I hope everyone isn't too made that the article isn't here, are clicking over to that site and giving them as many hits. I love contributing there!!!

2nd Place Tutu Table Skirt (Sugar & Spice Baby Shower) {Thoughtful Thursday}

Thanks Ash-bee for having your beautiful Amelia!!! I got to help throw a baby shower for our little princess complete with tutus! This was so fun and easy to make I couldn't keep it to myself! Thanks Christi from P is for Party for the inspirational picture!

aaaand {drum roll please}....the 1st place, most read/view blog post of 2012 iiiiis:

How-To Make Preschool "Centers" at HOME

This is the original, forever-long, thrown-together post I published about my kids toys shortly after we got our new flooring last year. I had a boost of energy with the clean new feel and went to town organizing the kids already organized toys. This post was later turned into the 5 day extended version with even more detail as to why we have the toys we have.

Some of my all time favorites have been more story-like posts but I think I like the idea of having that documentation for when I'm old and more senile.