Helping Kids to Learn Organization

Helping Children Learn Organization Skills

One way to help children learn organization skills is by focusing on something that interests them.

Starting with a hobby, sport or favorite activity can help you capture a child’s interest as you introduce them to organizational skills. Learning to organize and plan something you’re interested in can really help kids internalize positive habits that, with practice, they can later apply to other areas of their life as they grow like school, work and in their personal lives.

Three areas to focus on when teaching organization include understanding how to use a schedule, managing equipment and prioritization.

How to Use a Schedule

Give kids the opportunity to learn about schedules and responsibility by managing a schedule.
Young kids can learn the basics by creating a simple calendar to choose what snack to have during the week.
Older kids can plan their extra-curricular activities, homework assignments or household chores.
Use large dry erase magnets to plan schedules for a week or for planning an event.
Smaller dry erase magnets are great for calendars so you can move around the magnets as events change without erasing.

Managing Equipment - aka STUFF!

Kids acquire lots of stuff over time - especially sports equipment, art supplies, costumes, books and more.
Teach kids to take responsibility for their equipment from an early age and teach them how organizing can make a difference.
Young kids can use a large dry erase magnet to make a list of everything that needs to go in their school lunch or all of the school supplies in their backpack.
Posting lists in a central place like the fridge can be a great visual reminder at night or before school.
Older kids can make lists of their hobby supplies, sports gear or even their clothes to manage laundry.

Prioritization

Once you have a schedule, to-do list or any sort of list, it’s important to learn to prioritize.
Use visual tools to teach children how to make decisions and compare options.
Try color-coded dry erase magnets as an effective way to organize ideas so that kids can see the visual similarities as they classify items.
List out homework or practice drills for hobbies or sports on dry erase magnets and organize and prioritize them to create a schedule.
Use larger dry erase magnets for more complicated lists, you can even add drawings where helpful.

Simple ideas like these can help children learn the important skills of organization. AgilePacks dry erase magnets are excellent tools that can help children(and adults!) visualize concepts and make it easier to see the bigger picture when planning. As they get older they’ll take these lessons with them and they’ll be better prepared to stay organized and get things done.