Well, I got fed up with all the dumping/piling of toys. We talk about it every day & everyday I have 3 of them who do nothing but pile every toy into the reading nook. I've modeled how to play until I'm blue in the face. One of them is my Ds & he plays wonderfully when the other two are not here.Most creative/imaginative kid I know very honestly. Plays for an hour at a time in the floor with dinosaurs, cars, books, puzzles, etc. The 2 dcks do not ever play independently, here or at home from what I'm told. When they dump toys though Ds joins right in pretending to be Santa & delivering the toys to kids. Big problem is they all refuse to pick up b/c it makes a HUGE mess. The 2 dcks have to be forced to pick up small messes so they flat out refuse with the large ones. I have taken trash bags full of toys out repeatedly, took out shelves so they can just pile everything in one box to make it easy, they sit & do nothing until they clean up...it literally makes no difference. Today after 5 minutes of prodding them to clean to no avail I set a timer & told them whatever was on the floor when the timer dinged was mine. They didn't care. 5 minutes later I filled a trash bag with toys again. They are down to a single toy box with a few toys in the bottom & a reading nook. What else is there to do? I feel bad for the kids who do play well. I put severs sets of toys in a closet & the ones who do play nicely are allowed to choose one set at a time, clean up, & pick another but those 2 just can't handle it. I am beyond frustrated.

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Mine too 😫 they are notorious dumpers, so I've had to resort to staying on their tails and reminding them to put away a toy once they're finished before moving onto the next. That, and I have one DCB who is extremely destructive (oh, AND he is my biter and hitter ), chewing on all of the toys (I've had to take away their wooden blocks because he bit into one, causing it to splinter -- so they don't get those back for a while), and he destroys the hard books I've been able to leave out by trying to chew on those and ripping the paper off of them the minute I turn my back to help another child! Yikes! I'm like you, even with the few toys they're allowed to have now, I am tempted to take them all away except for one or toy per child and reintroducing them as they put away what they have. But even then, they all decide they want the ONE toy a child has and start to fight over it anyway...lol. Sorry I can't share any advice, I'm in the same boat and can sympathize though!

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At least its not just me. Its so bad my husband told me to give parents a couple weeks to get kids' behavior under control or be done with child care. I've got 3 that have ruined him on the idea of child care in general. Ugh

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How old are they? Sounds like 3 years? Might be time to try a new strategy. For me rewards work far better than punishments so do you think they'd be old enough to want a sticker chart or something like that? Maybe every time they clean up 5 toys they get a sticker? then after 5 stickers they get a special toy to pay with (you can either buy a dollar store toy or put away some toys to bring out later) or a movie. Or another simple thing is to just tell them what to clean up. My husband plays "clean up robots" with the kids. He gives them all special "missions" to clean up. The kids go crazy for it!! Or you can just tell them how many toys each they have to clean up. Start small and praise BIG TIME. Then increase the amount if it is working. Kids like to have fun so really try and have fun with it. I used to tell the kids that whoever cleaned up the fastest got to choose what game we played or book we read or whatever. They loved that too. Switch it up!

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I like the clean up robots game I essentially do the same thing, but never had such a cool name for it.

I catch kids being kind and helpful. If I catch you - you might get a sticker, might be an M&M...etc. It has really helped all around with the kids behavior, especially the 2-5 year olds. Though the 18m old will occasionally run around taking toys from the other kids to put them away yelling "catch me! I kind! treat" lol so its not a perfect system

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I must admit that while I completely respect other provider's ideas and systems, I do not feel that a reward system in this case is something I would personally do. IMO, cleaning up our own messes (within reason, of course) teaches responsibility and is what is expected. Of course, I will praise and tell the kids good job with a high five, but I try not to go too overboard so that it doesn't turn into an attention thing either. KWIM? Because I want the kids to understand that although our responsibilities aren't always fun, we have to do them so that we can move onto the next activity. It's just another life lesson to teach and learn

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That's awesome. And adorable!

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I generally am not a fan of rewarding children for meeting normal expectations. I feel the feeling of accomplishment should be the reward. That being said, I did try to implement a reward system a couple months ag since I struggle so much. The problem is that mom rewards them for EVERYTHING. As a 4 & a half yo, dcg had been potty trained for over a year & was still getting candy from mom for using the potty. I said not at my house. Pee in the potty or give up your big girl panties. Oddly enough she had no more accidents here after that while mom was still reporting many at home. Anyway, if they think there is the slightest possibility of a reward they will refuse to do anything unless there's a treat. Time to line up, Do I get a treat? Sit on your bottom at the table, Do I get a treat? Don't jump on the couch, Do I get a treat? All. Day. Long. So I did away with the rewards after a day. They are a handful now, but when treats are involved they go nuts & literally will say to me, "I'm not going to obey unless you give me a treat." And that's why rewards for these kids are not currently an option:/

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I have this same problem where they open the bins and dump it out then move on. Next thing my entire floor is just a bunch of stuff and then I end up cleaning it up. I have thought about taking everything out except a few things and let them figure it out.

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How old are all of the kids in care? Can you separate the offenders/divide up your space?

I would put one bin out for each child. Label it with their name. Allow them to CHOSE what goes in that bin. Remove EVERYTHING else. (When I did this I just turned my shelves around so they faced each other/wall.)

You can only play with what is in YOUR bin. If your bin is empty at the end of clean up time, you have no more toys for that day.

I did this for a week. By the end of the week, even my then 2yo was picking up/filling his bin.

Then I added in blocks.

Then A puzzle.

I had tried all else, I had praised the other children for being good helpers. Given stickers out. Had a super fun activity planned after clean up. NOTHING else worked.

Phew that was a rough group!

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What an awesome idea. All my kids are 2 except a 15 month old

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I like this idea. My kids range in age from 12mo-5yo, but oddly enough my babies always help clean up. The issue is with a 3 yo & the 5yo. My Ds that joins them is 4. So, are they allowed to play together or just by themselves with their bin? I'm trying to picture this in action.

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I just stay on their tails. We just got our new crop of kids for the year, and I think they were only allowed to take one set of toys at a time in their old classroom. I don't believe in that for 4-year-olds, but I also refused to be on my hands and knees sorting and putting away 50 buckets of dumped toys, or have the centers trashed all the time.

So I am right on them (not in a mean way). No leaving toys not put away, no filling bags, no dumping - we use the toys from the container as we need them, and if its put away incorrectly it has to come back out and be resorted.

I have to do it less and less each day. There is no "refusing" though. There's no choice of not helping- they can either clean up an equal share of the mess or everybody's share

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You must have a pretty special group of kids! never in my life have I had kids act like this in my 10 years of working with kids!! YIKES!

Hopefully you find something else that works better

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I allowed them to share toys if they had cleaned up. They also swapped toys a few times. The ones who hadn't cleaned up were not allowed to take toys from the others bins though. Even the boys started to say "NO, WE CLEANED THESE TOYS UP!" It was also brutal for them to see the toys THEY had chosen go in another child's bin because they refused to clean up.

I had rotating things to do at the table (coloring, legos, playdoh) but I made them not a preference for the specific children I was targeting.

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That's what I do with my 3 year old class. Unfortunately, the other 3 year old class is a rougher group and the rules change when they combine into my room at the end of the day. Most days they can get out one set of toys at a time and not be allowed to get anything else out until they clean up the previous set. If it's a bad day, then they get to pick one toy and sit down at a table. I'm not staying late because kids won't clean up.

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Yes, this is my thought too! I read a different thread where there was a discussion based on the term "treat" (going with the reward thing here) -- it has an interesting perspective that the word doesn't mean the same thing to everyone. For example, my definition is typically a food item, such as a cookie or sweet that we might have occasionally just because. However, to others, it may imply a reward for "good" behavior. The thing is, that some begin to believe that all "good" actions should be rewarded, even for the smallest of tasks that are expected -- not optional. Encouragement is certainly a part of it, and I didn't think about it, but I realized today that my kids have gotten better at least at picking up their mess when I enforce the choice technique. I don't give them the option to say no, I simply say, "okay, it's time to clean up for ........! Someone can pick up the blocks and someone can pick up the dolls! Great job, now, let's make sure we get everything into the toy box!" Until we are finished. Then I finish with a "thank you, kids! Great job!" And go on our way. I don't make it a big deal, and I realized that they have actually done better in just a day doing that. It was a nice change!

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Yes thanking kids and telling them how they have helped you is fantastic. With my own I will say "wow guys thanks for your help, you really helped mommy and now I can do xyz and not feel so tired" or whatever. My own kids thrive on that. Most kids are not my kids though and haven't been raised that way. With those kids I don't want to nag nag nag and have non stop negative interactions so I use some sort of positive reinforcement if needed. Sometimes just being enthusiastic like you said works wonders or making it into a game. The trick is to try things until you find something that works and you are ok with.

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Yeah if its an off day and I know they just aren't into it, I assign activities. I always limit choices at the end of the day anyway.

But for the most part they need to be able to choose their own activity and clean it up properly.

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I limit choices at the very end of the day (after 5PM), but normally I let them have free play until then. Unfortunately, the assistant for the other three class can't control them, so they have to combine so I can keep them under control. It's a very rough group.

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When I had all 2's and under dumping I only had like six little people in a bin, four dishes/5 food items in bin by the toy kitchen, etc. the rest were self contained toys without pieces.

If my dck did this a little and were playing some kind of game and were willing to pick up I wouldn't mind. If they just dumped to dump and made big piles I would stop them before they dumped or not have lots of pieces.

If I had kids that played well with pieces I'd allow them to play with them at the table, but not allow the dumpers till they learned to pick up. That's just me.

Did I miss the ages you have? If I have a younger group I do more helping with clean up. If it's a mixed age group with 3/4's along with a two and say a toddler...they pick up.

I ring a bell @ 9:30, play our clean up song, and have a sticker chart. They get to pick a sticker and put it by their name if they clean up. I verbally set up expectations before play time if I have some who don't clean up well. I let them know what I expect. I also have a pair of kid's binoculars. I walk around and say, "I see Maya picking up, I see Leo picking up." That helps a lot!

I try to notice what the kids are doing right and comment on it.

I've left a small pile of toys out and told non helper during the next play time they can't get anything out till that pile is picked up. That would be 3 yrs and up tho.

I'm fun but firm. If I had kids dumping who were older than two and not picking up they'd have choices of things at the table, & the book corner. They'd find out real quick it's better to pick up.

If I had two's who dumped and I didn't want to limit pieces because of older kids I'd shadow and not allow the dumping game. I've also had plastic buckets like Easter buckets out for two's. They love to carry them around and dump those few pieces out. I realize it's developmentally Appropriate for two's to dump. I do limit tho.

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Also, I'd flat out stop the game! They absolutely would be redirected to something else. I wouldn't let three's even start this game of dumping toys.

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The kids who are doing all of the dumping are 3, 4, & 5. Oddly enough the 5 yo is the one who fights me on clean up every single time for the duration of clean up time. I have a mixed age group ranging 1-5years. Both of my toddlers are very helpful at clean up time, as is one of my 3 yo. I do have a tote full of 7 bean bag animals that are specifically for dumping and refilling as I know this is developmentally appropriate for the younger ones, but the older ones aren't happy with that. They say they are playing Santa Claus and passing out toys when they make the piles so they don't understand why I keep telling them to quit dumping and find something to play with. They think they are "playing." After discussing this with mom on Friday, I discovered that this is how they play at home (dumping) and she doesn't ever make them clean up anything, her words. She said she would start encouraging it at home in hopes of making it go smoother here.

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When I've had this issue, here's what I've done: spread out throw rugs around the room--one for each child. One activity goes on each rug. They choose a rug to sit on--they and their toys stay on it and play. After about ten minutes, I tell them to put their pieces back into their containers, and we switch. Eventually every child goes to each rug. They only have one activity to pick up, and there's no question as to who is responsible for those pieces. When I have one who won't pick theirs up, they don't get to switch to another rug.

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