Of course, the size of the broom and dust pan are not quite proportional to his size. So when I came across a little handheld broom and dustpan at the store the other day, I knew I had to buy it for my little helper.
Thus has begun our daily lessons on sweeping. Since he doesn't really see the tiny speckles of dirt that I sweep up daily, he doesn't understand the purpose. So, I decided to start letting him use it for when it's time to clean up his toys. That way, he can see what he's cleaning up and can practice the purpose of the whole sweeping task.
He has a tendency to completely dump out his toys that have a lot of pieces, in the case of this post, his blocks and dinosaurs. This makes for the perfect sweeping activity.
(please excuse the fact that a majority of my photos are from my phone)
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| Sweep... |
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| Dump... |
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| Smile! |
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| So proud of himself :-) |
After his first successful clean up, we walked into the living room where we found another opportunity to practice sweeping. All of his little dinosaurs were scattered about the floor.
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| Sweep... |
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| Dump... |
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| Get distracted and start playing with broom and dinosaurs... |
So maybe we don't always complete the task of sweeping up our toys but we're starting to figure out the purpose of that bristly thing and shovel thing. For instance, it makes a great place for dinosaurs to hide.
We've also been practicing how to wash the dishes...that is, the plastic, unbreakable dishes. ;-)
What are some of the 'first chores' you taught, or are currently teaching, your child(ren)?
This is post #5 in the series:
Click the image above for all the posts in one convenient location.
I'd love for you to follow along:
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Hey it's Deonna for the Child at Heart blog...I love all of these pictures and smiled when he got distracted...so cute...I have a baby boy around this age and he always helps me carry the laundry basket from room to room. I just tell him the room and off he goes...he is also VERY proud of himself for this achievement.
ReplyDeleteThat's a cute idea Deonna! It's cute that he's so proud of that job. I need to start involving my son with the laundry more. One thing I've noticed is that he usually only cleans if I'm singing the clean up song. If I stop singing, he stops and stares at me ;-)
DeleteHow funny! My oldest son (18 months) LOVES sweeping! haha- I think "BROOM!" was one of his first words (well, right behind mama and dada). He also loves to pretend to load the dishwasher and "helping" me vacuum :) Now if I could just get him that excited about picking up his blocks...
ReplyDeleteThat's so sweet :-) We only have tile floors so no vacuuming around here. And unfortunately no dishwasher (hence the reason I'm trying to let him help more and more with washing dishes). That way, HE can be my dishwasher :-) Hopefully your son ALWAYS loves to sweep!
DeleteSo cute! My son also loves to help clean, so he does a lot of the same things. He has his own feather duster and got a whole cleaning kit for his birthday. He also loves to help wipe spills so I usually give him a rag so he can join in. One other things you could try is sorting and putting away laundry. My son is just starting to understand this and not make as many messes of my folded laundry!
ReplyDeleteOk, so I LOVE the idea of giving my son his own feather duster. Also, that is so adorable that he even got a cleaning kit for his birthday. I'll have to keep that idea in mind. My son is still likes to throw the clean laundry back into the dirty clothes hamper (thinking he's helping me). It's cute but not when I've already folded the laundry, so I should probably start letting him help more with laundry too. Thanks for sharing your ideas Lisa!
DeleteAlicia
My kids love helping with chores. What a cute way to introduce sweeping!
ReplyDeletewww.mamagetsitdone.blogspot.com
Thanks Janell! Way to go for raising kids who love to do chores :-)
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