Is preschool too young for chores? Is it too young to keep a bedroom clean? No and no. A preschooler needs to begin learning chores and have a feeling of purpose in the home. Preschoolers love to please so doing chores is often not a struggle at first. Yet, when the novelty of helping wears off then chores do not seem like as much fun. No fun will equal struggling with chores. If you can get your child to complete chores the fun way then everyone wins. The chores become a habit and soon the games you play to encourage chores will fade away. The same is true with the concept of the Room Fairy. A child learns through a game how to keep her room clean on a regular basis. Eventually a habit will be formed and keeping a room clean will not be a struggle. Even preschooler will understand the concept of the room fairy.
How does the Room Fairy work?
Tell your child the story of the Room Fairy. The Room Fairy comes into children’s rooms randomly and without being seen to check up on the child’s progress at keeping his or her room clean. You never know when the Room Fairy will arrive so you have to keep your room clean all the time. If the Room Fairy enters a clean room she will leave a piece of candy on the child’s bed or nightstand. If the Room Fairy enters a room that is not clean she scatters fairy dust all over the room for the child to clean up. The Room Fairy will be checking in on your child in the next few days.
Your child will have a blast cleaning her room as fast as possible to make it in time for the first visit of the Room Fairy. To encourage a clean room make sure the Room Fairy visits a clean room for the first time.
Soon your child will habitually keep her room clean and grow out of wanting candy for a clean room. Much like growing out of wanting candy for going potty.
My Favorite Preschool Curriculum
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