Back to school time is fast approaching for many of us. This school year will probably look a little different than previous years, but, no matter the format, we can all use a little organization to make things run smoother. Today we are going to explore why learning organizational skills are important for kids, what big ideas we should consider when helping kids get organized, and some super easy practical ideas for school year organization. Let’s Dive In!
Why do kids need to learn organization skills?
I will confess to you that I am an organization junkie. I love reading and listening to books on organization, watching videos on organization, and much to my own kids dismay I constantly find myself reorganizing and labeling everything in our house.
As an adult, organization is really important to me because it helps me reduce the stress in my life. And, it helps me feel like I have a better handle on my life and responsibilities which can sometimes get totally crazy and unmanageable.
For children, however, learning how to organize and plan helps them to develop and practice their executive functioning skills. Executive function skills are a set of higher order cognitive processes that allows us to plan, prioritize, manage our time, and ultimately meet deadlines and achieve goals. Developing skills is a normal part of development however, many children have a difficult time with executive functioning. Deficits in this area may lead them to struggle in areas such as self-regulation, problem solving, planning, etc. By teaching a child organization skills and practicing these skills with them you can help them strengthen their executive function muscle.
What Big Ideas Can We Incorporate Into Organization?
- In his book, Getting Things Done-The Art of Stress Free Productivity, David Allen states, “Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.” I absolutely love this quote. It really gets to the heart of why we need some sort of system to keep ourselves organized. We should not expect ourselves to remember every little detail in our lives. Our brain was not built for it! If we continually overload our brain with small meaningless information to remember, it cannot be the creative idea machine it was meant to be.
- Organization systems need to be flexible enough to meet the needs of the individual user. Each of us thinks and processes information differently. Some of us are visual learners, some auditory, etc. In order for our system of organization to work, it needs to be flexible enough to play to our strengths and support our weaknesses.
- A system will not work if we don’t use it. That one is pretty self-explanatory.
Organization Ideas for Kids
#1 Routines
Routines are an amazing teaching tool for kids, and the first step in organization. In their simplest form, routines are a list of activities that we perform at the same time each day. For example, a morning routine would be make your bed, brush your teeth, eat breakfast, feed the dog, etc.
The two biggest benefits implementing routines into a child’s day are:
- Routines decrease stress. Knowing what you need to get done and making it automatic means you will get it done faster and with less likelihood of forgetting something.
- Routines create designated times each day to practice important and emerging skills such as toothbrushing and dressing. Now, in the beginning this practice will take your child a lot longer than if you had just done it for them, but in the long run that practice will lead to skill acquisition, time savings, and a sense of accomplishment.
To create a routine list with your child, start with a brainstorming session. Come up with a small list of items for morning and evenings. Then, create a permanent version for them to refer to each day. This routine list can be:
- a sticky note on their bedroom door
- a printed list in a sheet protector that they can check off with a dry erase marker
- a laminated picture schedule with To Do and Done columns to move the velcro backed pictures between
- a note taking app like Google Keep, Check the video below to learn how to use Google Keep.
#2: Teach Kids To Use A Planner
Remember the quote I mentioned earlier, “Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.” Planners provide a place to hold all of your ideas and information. And while planners are widely available in stores and online, I have never found one that meets my exact needs. Each of us has brains that work differently. So creating a simple planner that works for your brain, is usually the best way.
For a planner to work it needs at least these 4 sections:
- A Running To Do List: This is your brain dump, the place all those little things swirling around in your brain get put on paper. With a running to-do list you have all of your to-do items in one place, and you mark off and add items to it as often as needed. You can teach a child to create a to do list by giving them prompts or a list of ideas.
- Calendar: A simple monthly calendar gives you a place to write all of your time and date specific items like doctor appointments and birthday parties. Letting your kids see all of their activities in monthly form will give them a better idea of why they can’t procrastinate on that project for science class.
- Ideas/Notes: This is my favorite section. Use these pages to doodle, color, jot down a great idea, or create a list of vacation ideas. No rules here, just be creative.
- Daily Plan: In this section, you take a look at the first two sections and decide what needs to get done for the day. For students, this section will also contain all the daily assignments and homework they have for school.
You can add any other sections to the planner, but these 4 basic areas will allow your student to manage the important stuff.
To create a simple planner:
- Take a spiral notebook and divide the book into sections with stick on tabs or by placing some colorful tape on the first page of each section.
- Pick up a bullet journal. Bullet journals come pre-printed with page numbers and a table of contents making dividing the pages up into your sections a snap.
- Grab a thin binder or 3 prong folder and add dividers to create sections. This is the method I use personally, and I usually use pocketed dividers for the extra storage space. For each section add blank sheets of paper or premade printables. Check out the store for some printables I’ve created for you.
- Digital Version: Use any note taking app like Google Keep or Evernote to create routines, a running to do list, notes of ideas, projects lists, and homework. Add a digital calendar like google calendar for dates and events.
#3 Practice Not Perfection
Creating the organizational device is the fun and usually easiest part of the process. Daily follow through and practice of the process is the hard part. Make sure to be patient with yourself and your child. This process will take some trial and error so expect to make some modifications to your system along the way. Any effort and steps toward organization is a great learning experience for your child. These experiences are part of developing those executive function skills so don’t sweat it!
Before you head out, please make sure to stop by the store to download the printables that go along with today’s post. There are a wide variety of organization printables for all age levels and ability levels.
I hope these ideas make this school year a smashing success!
Good luck and Happy Organizing!
-Heather