My kids struggle to play with toys/activities appropriately. They are very imaginative, but they make a lot of mess and I have to really be firm with them to get them to pick anything back up. My own 5 year old in particular jumps from one activity to another and I feel like while I'm helping one child clean something up he's dumping another. Then I convince him to help pick that up and while I'm putting the tote away he's dumped something else. And heaven forbid I have to stop to change a dirty diaper in between, he's dumped out 3 other sets of things in the 2 minutes it takes me to finish up with the baby.

I try to get him to play with one activity at a time and keep smaller pieces like Legos on a mat in a designated area, but for an example, he will set up all of the toy animals around the play room to have a "hunting party" and then he will build a spacecraft out of the legos and fill the space craft with lego guys and pretend to make it fly around and see the animals. I love the creativity and imagination he uses, but the legos can't be left out with the babies and without fail after he plays for a few minutes he decides to crash the spacecraft or take apart the people and I am constantly pulling tiny pieces away from the babies.

My question is, how do you teach him to play appropriately without squelching the creativity? I feel like I end up nagging him all day long b/c he is constantly doing something that is dangerous or just not appropriate like leaving out little pieces, blowing bubbles in his drink, smearing food on the table, dumping totes, doing flips in the house, etc. He probably feels like hes always doing something wrong, but I can't let him do this stuff as he teaches the other kids to do these things as well. How do you handle these things?

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It sounds like you may have to much stuff out and at the ready to be dumped. Sometimes less if more. I would try taking away some stuff and storing it somewhere for awhile and see if that helps.

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And make some designated area for toys that are dangerous for babies.

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You have too much stuff out. I'd reduce the amount of toys you have available significantly, organize it and go over the rules of play ... take one type out at a time only, put it away before they can move on to the next, consequence of not picking it up is that you will pick it up and put it away and they can't be played with for the rest of the day, if it keeps happening then the toy gets put away for a longer period of time until you feel like you can give them another chance etc.

I'm having trouble with my own 2 yo, and 2 5yo's cleaning up so right now the only toys available are the blocks, books, abead track toy and some outside toys like the sand toys and some balls. Oh and some soft baby toys. They're not too happy but they've started to clean up and we're two weeks in. Next week I'll bring the cars or trains back and see how it goes (we're also having hoarding problems).

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Definitely agree with more organisation and storing of toys. Have a few things out and then a week later put those toys away and take out some new ones. For me I just make peace with the mess. I do what I can to limit it but at the end of the day I want the kids playing as much as possible without my interference. Kids get so little time to play without nagging adults around so I just step back and let the mess happen. At the end of the day we play "clean up robots" where everyone gets a special mission to clean up and then it gets done.

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In summer I take a break from toys with many pieces. I will only have ONE toy out at a time with lots of pieces and the rest are single, like dolls, cash register, stuffed animals.
We have LOTS of many-piece things outside.

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I don't have anything out that's not OK for the babies. For instance, I don't have Legos, I have Duplos. That way I don't have to be super-vigilant about what toys are out. I also have a limited amount of things out and rotate them.

I let my kiddos get out as much as they want, as long as they're playing with it. If they're just making a dump pile I stop it, but sometimes they need a bunch of different stuff to act on their creativity.

When it's clean-up time they're all expected to help. Sometimes takes us 30 minutes to clean up, but I think it's time well spent.

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There desgnated areas for playing with certain toys in my room. A frequent phrase I say is "that's a table activity!" Even the 2s know which tub of toys need to be brought to the table (child sized) to play with. It helps contain the mess and it seems to cause them to commit to playing with it for longer. If they are done they put it back unless another child wants it. I have 6 areas and if you are in an area, you clean it up before you move to another. It keeps the room pretty tidy. I think when toys are dumped everywhere the kids get overwhelmed and can't find something to do. If a child is playing inappropriately I asign them an area to park their booty in "Sally have a seat in the car and block area please!" if she plays nicely for a bit I will give her the option to move to an area of her choice.

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Thanks for all of the ideas! I put away a whole lot of toys and bins with sets inside today. I organized and cleaned and the kids even helped. Hopefully this will go better! Thanks again.

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Depending on the age of the child- if you have a dumper find an appropriate activity that you can redirect to.. dumping/pouring in the water or sand table for instance.

I also have my kids clean up one area before moving on. They are able to combine bins, but if they are done and walking away/not using it, they're reminded to clean it up.

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My play room stays clean unless we get new kids and I have to teach them to clean. They have to clean the one toy up before they get another out.i try to to say two toys since u have two hands(no leaving toys out on the floor),like two cars if they take out 10 cars then they are everywhere getting stepped on,but once they get better and can clean without with out being asked I let them do more.i bend a little with the kids who been here long term cause they clean up after them selfs without being asked ,so I let them like build the big blocks and make a farm for the toy animals and use cars for farm vehicles,use there imagination kids who are not good at cleaning are welcome to play with a big acitvity like that they all play together and clean it together.i have things like small blocks,Lincoln logs on a shelf space they have to ask for them and everything else gets put away first and we mostly play together with them.

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