Location: indoor

Materials: a messy classroom and speakers or a stereo

Do you dread clean up time? We've all been there. If you're looking to try a new routine for cleaning up, consider picking a "Clean Up Song". This can be any song of your choosing, but typically one that's ~3 minutes long and upbeat (ie: good for dancing) is a good choice.

Once you have chosen a song, introduce the song to your kids and say, "When you hear this song that means it is time to clean up!"

Picking a song that is both upbeat and a few minutes long provides some extra motivation for kids to work together to clean up. You can say, "If we finish cleaning up before the song is over, we get to dance to the rest!"

An example song that is 3 minutes long AND upbeat is "Build Me Up Buttercup" by The Foundations. Keep in mind you're probably going to get sick of whatever your clean up song is, so do yourself a favor and don't pick one of your favorites!