8 ways to get toddlers to pick up their toys
Last Updated on November 6, 2024
Getting toddlers to pick up their toys isn’t easy, but as well as encouraging independence in your toddler, having them pick up their toys enables them to understand what it means to be part of a family, as well as giving them some responsibility over their belongings.
Here are 8 ways to get toddlers to pick up their toys, to make tidy up time easier for everyone.
Declutter their toys
The first thing you may like to do before getting your toddler to pick up their toys is to declutter your toddler’s toys, so there’s less toys that they have to pick up, making the task easier.
You can do this by donating toys your toddler doesn’t use, or that make a mess when played with, or by storing some away so you can rotate your toys at a later date.
Give clear instructions
Giving your toddler clear instructions on how they can help you, or how they can pick up toys on their own, helps greatly with tidy up time.
For example, you could ask your toddler to help you pick up all the cars, or put the building blocks in the middle storage box, or point to where their toys go.
Explain why tidying up is important
Explaining why something is important helps toddlers to understand why they need to do something.
For example, if you explain that tidying up is important to your family because tidying up toys means they won’t be accidentally stepped on, then broken, may result in your toddler being more likely to pick up their toys because they don’t want them to break.
Have dedicated toy storage
Having dedicated toy storage areas makes tidying up time easier, as does having storage boxes that are labelled, or that have pictures of the toys that go in them.
This means that toddlers can put their toys in the storage they go in, making it easy for them to know where their toys live, making tidy up time quicker.
Play tidy up songs
Playing tidy up songs is a fun way to encourage toddlers to pick up their toys, and if your toddler goes to nursery, they’ll already be familiar with this technique for putting toys away.
Here are some tidy up time songs that you can play if this is something you’d like to try.
Provide choices
Toddlers love having a choice over what they do, as it allows them to feel some control over their situation.
Providing choices when getting toddlers to pick up their toys could be asking them if they’d like to pick up their cars or puzzle pieces first, or asking if they’d like to pick their toys up before or after lunch.
Make it a competition
My oldest son loves competitions, so if I need him to help tidy up I make it a competition to see who can pick up the most toys in a 5 minute time frame.
Make it part of their routine
Making tidy up time the same time each day can help toddlers to understand when tidy up time happens, making them less resistant to it.
Some examples of this could be making tidy up time before a nap, or after dinner.
I hope there’s something here that may help you to get your toddler to pick up their toys, or at least make tidy up time less stressful.
Do you have any tips on how to get toddlers to pick up their toys?
