5 ways to make your child's play space functional

Hello 2019! It's a new year, which is a great excuse to clean house and start off feeling fresh & organized. Every 4-6 months I purge my toy room to clean out all the shit that accumulates over time.

You know what I’m talking about…. those miss-matched pieces in toy sets, missing puzzle pieces, markers without lids, broken toys, dead batteries, ripped books, food crumbs in random corners, and the list goes on....

A few questions for you…

1. Do you feel like your kid's toys are taking over your home?

2. Do you constantly feel like you are forever cleaning up your child's toys?

3. Are you ready to walk from room to room without stepping on toys?

4. Are you ready to create a space that feels clutter free & functional for your child?

so how similar are we? I scored 4/4 here. You?

Play holds a very important role in a child’s growth & development. Children primarily learn through play in the early years. Play is a brilliant process that deserves attention and a ton of nurturing. I designated a room in my house for a structured play space so I can have a bit of control to help my children expand their imaginations, develop their creativity, and foster their social communication skills. In order for all of this to happen, it's my job to make sure this sacred environment is set up for success. It's my job to be proactive and provide them with structure so they can really dive in. Here are my top 5 strategies for setting up a successful & functional play space.

1. LESS IS MORE. We want our children to develop their imagination so… we have to give kids the opportunity to get creative with their toys and use them in different ways. If they have an abundance of toys you are likely to see them play with 1 toy for a few minutes, chuck it across the room and move onto the next. That will be put on repeat until it’s time wash up for dinner. If you have an abundance of toys, you can rotate them monthly and put some away in storage. It's amazing how a kid reacts when you stash a toy away for a bit then pull it out a month or two later. It's like gold. I also tend to do this around birthdays and holidays when they receive an overload of gifts. I put a bunch of them away and pull them out systematically when I feel they are ready for something new. The bonus here is when your child has to get creative and use their imagination with limited toys, we often see that attention span & focus stretch. It’s a win-win! Here are a few options for getting rid of toys; donate used toys to families or charities in need, hand them down to family or friends with younger kids, do a toy or book swap with a friend, or donate them to your child’s school.

2.  FIND A HOME. Every toy, book, costume, crayon, & stuffed animal needs a home. Every item in the play space should have a designated spot where it goes when not in use. If the item is homeless get rid of it! (remember- less is more). This builds predictability for kids so they know where to find things when they need them and it also gives them a concrete spot to put things away when it comes time to tidy up. This allows you to teach your child how to “clean up” in a very structured way” I label all the toy bins and drawers in our playroom so both adults and kids know exactly where everything belongs. None of us have an excuse. There’s no doubt that some toys end up in their friends houses for an extended period of time, but at least when I do my 4-6 month purge, I can easily just drop it where it belongs.

3. GET HIGH! Not every single item needs to be at your child’s disposal. Put things out of reach. Use the height of your space. I like to use shelving that is out of my kids' reach so I have a spot to put toys that require adult supervision. For example, board games with little tiny pieces that I don't want going missing or ending up in my dog’s mouth- this pup eats EVERYTHING! I learned my lesson with Perler beads!!! I left the bucket of them on my kid’s A&C table and came in the room to find them allllllll over the place. They now reside in a lovely home on the highest possible shelf in my playroom. A great hack for this is to take an ikea unit (you know the one with the bins) and mount it high up on the wall out of your child’s reach

4. BAG IT.  ZIpper-ed bags are my best friend! I love the mesh zip up bags from the good old dollar store. Bags that zip are amazing for toys with multiple pieces, such as puzzles. I hate when pieces go missing or end up in the bottom of a toy bin in another room of the house. It’s so important to keep sets together. What’s great about having things in bags is when we are heading out for a long drive or to a restaurant- I can easily grab one of the bags from our toys room and bring it along with us. I use zip bags from arts & crafts, puzzles, figurine sets (we’re all about super heros these days), & stickers

4. DEPOSITS. Deposit bins are key to maintaining an organized space. There are often times when toys make their way out of the playroom and into tiny spaces and crevices around the house. To help manage that mess, I've put "miscellaneous toy bins" in common spaces around the house so we can deposit the toys in them until I have time to put them away in their proper places in the playroom. This helps me get toys off the floor at the end of a long day without having to expend whatever brain power I have left. 

So… if you are wondering where the hell to start, my suggestion is to get 2 big bags. 1 bag for toys you want to donate of or store out of sight and the other bag is for garbage. Don’t feel bad about throwing out broken toys or toys with partial pieces. Your child won’t care and probably won’t even realize. If for some reason they have some deep attachment to items you want to get rid of then let them hold on to it, until they are on to the next best thing. It’s probably best to tackle this when they aren’t around so you don’t have any interception :)

Let me know how it goes.

You’ve got this

-Cori

I’ve got one more thing for you to help you start off 2019 STRONG! Here’s my cheat sheet with some of my go-to strategies for getting your child to listen to you. You can start using these strategies right away! Give them a try and let me know how it goes!

Let's talk MORNING ROUTINE!

So if you are the "wake up before your child" type of person and you get your day started without any interruptions- then you should know I’m envious of you! The odd time I’m up before my children, I always have the exact same dialogue in my head... 

"It’s so nice and quiet, I feel so relaxed, what a great way to start the day!"

The other 363 days of the year this is how it goes….

A typical morning usually consists of….
My children waking up and finding their way into my bed
The tv goes on and we have the most delicious snuggles (never want those to end). 
After 15 minutes of watching tv and snuggling the race is on! 
And in no particular order...
Get dressed! 
Eat breakfast!
Get dressed again because clothing got dirty from breakfast
Brush teeth!
Shoes on! Jackets on!
Occupy the kids while you do all of the above
Oh ya… then one kids starts screaming because the other kid isn’t sharing toys
Then my daughter gives up and decides to change her clothes again because why not!?!? (does this stage ever end?!?!?)
The phone is dinging as those work emails start coming in on both mine and my husbands phones… 
Then both my kids try to leave the house with toys in each hand to take to school (you know because there aren’t enough toys there already) and then comes the negotiation to get them to leave the toys at home…. cue the crying…. 
We finally take 1 step out the door and I realize I’ve left my phone inside- run back in and search everywhere for it.

WTF?!?!

Does this sounds familiar to you??

I recently did a poll in Behave it or NOT! and it looks like I’m with most you, which was a huge relief on my end so thank you for that!!!. 

I’m certainly not an early to rise person, nor is my family. My children have become our alarm clock, and to be honest I’m totally ok with it. So what does this mean for us? …..our mornings are very face paced as we race the clock to get out of the house. Over the years I’ve had to figure out how to keep our house moving in forward motion --> to get out the door on time with minimal bumps along the way. 

Efficiency is always my #1 goal. 

I always get asked "how do you do it?"

Well here you go...Here are some of the strategies I’ve used to help us be successful with our morning routine.

1. I always make a mental list (for those who know me, I love lists!!!) in my head of things I can do the night before to make the morning smoother. For example; pack bags for school, dance, baseball and throw it in the car- can’t forget it the next day if it’s already in the car! BOOM!
2. Those first 15 minutes of snuggle time in the morning are a MUST- this is our opportunity to get emotionally connected with our children before the day gets started. All kids need a good dose of attention to fuel their day. Give it to them before your day starts so they don’t try to seek it out in a non-functional way while you are trying to rush out the door
3. Minimize the number of transitions you require your child to get through from wake up to getting out the door. The way I’ve set up our morning routine is based on location in the house where tasks need to get done. So.. we start in our bedrooms (getting dressed, making bed) and then move our way to the kitchen (breakfast, wash up) which is close to the front door, and then front door for shoes & jackets and out the door! There’s very little back and forth required for transitions.
4. If my child tries to swerve from the routine because she wants to "play with her toys"- I turn to the "when-then" routine. It would sounds something like this.. "When you get dressed and make your bed, then you can play with your toys for 10 minutes (timer is set for her)"
5. Model a solid routine for your kids. If you are like me and aren’t one to get up before your kids, then go through the morning routine with them. You get dressed while they get dressed- getting dressed together is a great opportunity to connect and be in it together- kids love this!
6. For children 3+ years old you can provide them with a checklist of tasks for them to follow in the morning. If they can’t read yet, use pictures. Kids love to be in control! What an easy way to give them a sense of empowerment to start their day! The only thing to remember here is this needs to be taught- go through the motions with your child a few times until you feel confident they can do it on their own.

In an ideal world, I would get up at least 30 minutes earlier than my kids to get myself dressed and ready for the day- This is on my "to-do" list. 

-Cori

p.s. I love hand delivering strategies directly into your inbox. Sign up here for instant delivery! 

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A Meaningful Mess

I always love the feeling when I walk into my kids' playroom and it's spotless. Toys are put away in bins and drawers, random toy pieces have found their match, I can actually see the floor!! It's the best. BUT... what I love more is walking into the playroom and witnessing the process of that mess being made. This process is called playing and playing is learning. Kids have method to their madness, just like we do to ours. It's a brilliant process that deserves attention and a ton of nurturing. I use this space to help my kids expand their imagination, develop their creativity, and foster their social communication skills. In order for all of this to happen, it's my job to make sure this sacred environment is set up for success. It's my job to be proactive and provide them with structure so they can make the best mess possible. It's my job to make sure their mess is meaningful to them. Here are my top 5 strategies for setting up a successful play space.

1.  FIND A HOME. Make sure every toy, book, costume, crayon, stuffed animal has a home. Every item in the play space should have a designated spot where it goes when not in use. This builds predictability for kids so they know where to find things when they need them and it also gives them a concrete spot to put things away when it comes time to tidy up. I label all the toy bins and drawers in our playroom so both adults and kids know exactly where everything belongs.

2. GET HIGH! Put things out of reach. Use the height of your space. I like to use shelving that is out of my kids' reach so I have a spot to put toys that require adult supervision. For example, board games with little tiny pieces that I don't want going missing or ending up in my son's mouth. The kid eats EVERYTHING!

3. BAG IT. Ziploc bags are my best friend! I've recently become a little more environmentally friendly and starting using mesh zip up bags from the good old dollar store. Bags that zip are amazing for toys with multiple pieces, such as puzzles. I hate when pieces go missing or end up in the bottom of a toy bin in another room of the house. 

4. LESS IS MORE. If we are looking at developing those imaginative minds then give kids the opportunity to get creative with their toys and use them in different ways. If you have an abundance of toys, you can rotate them monthly and put some away in storage. It's amazing how a kid reacts when you stash a toy away for a bit then pull it out a month or two later. It's like gold. I also tend to do this around birthdays and holidays when they receive an overload of gifts. I put a bunch of them away and pull them out systematically when I feel they are ready for something new. 

5. DEPOSITS. Deposit bins are key to maintaining an organized space. There are often times when toys make their way out of the playroom and into tiny spaces and crevices around the house. To help manage that mess, I've put "miscellaneous toy bins" in common spaces around the house so we can deposit the toys in them until I have time to put them away in their proper places in the playroom. This helps me get toys off the floor at the end of a long day without having to expend whatever brain power I have left. 

Here's a glimpse into my kids' playroom. Some people ask why bother even cleaning it up if they are just going to jump in and make a mess again. We always have to reset the environment to provide a new canvas for them to create and learn from.

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Tutor vs. Academic Coach

You are one step in the right direction when you decide that you are going to find support for your child, to help them at home with their school work. The next step is figuring out what that support is going to look like. Does your child need help understanding curriculum content? Does your child need help completing homework and assignments? Does your child just need a cheerleader in their corner to help build self-confidence and esteem? Understanding your child's needs is really important before you start shopping around so you can make sure you are getting the best support possible. Knowing what's available out there is really important. Based on my 10+ years of experience, I have found that now more than ever, there is such a great need for more than just the traditional type of tutoring. This is especially true for students who have Executive Functioning challenges, Attention Deficit Disorders, Non-Verbal Learning Disabilities, and other learning deficits we are seeing through assessment outcomes.  With need comes support, and the inception of our Academic Coaching service. We have come to differentiate Tutoring & Academic Coaching to ensure we are meeting the growing needs of all our clients. They are offered as separate services but often merge quite seamlessly. The feedback has been tremendous and a lot of families are seeing such positive results. Here's the difference between the two. 

Tutoring

• Helps students understand curriculum content in any or all subject areas

• Helps students complete homework

• Helps students study for upcoming tests and exams (having a study buddy can be quite beneficial)

• Helps students when it comes time to edit final assignments

• Helps boost confidence and self esteem when going through homework, assignments and test prep at home. Reassurance always feels so good!

• DOES NOT mean that someone is showing up to your house to complete your child’s homework or assignments for them

• Offers remediation and enrichment to catch up or move ahead in the curriculum

• Helps parents out when time is limited after school to help their child with homework, etc.

• The focus here in on the product

Academic Coaching

• Helps students who need support with organizational management and time management

• Helps students take larger tasks and break them down into smaller ones

• Helps students organize and manage their schedules and agendas

• Helps students set up systems at home for homework and assignment completion and test prep

• Involves communicating with teachers to align goals and learning strategies

• Teaches students study skills that target both their strength and weaknesses

• Primarily focuses on processes and then product

• Provides a solid foundation to allow students to learn effectively

• Boost confidence and self esteem when going through homework, assignments and test prep at home. Reassurance always feels so good!

• Reduces the needs for parents to play the role of 'teacher' at home- which often compromises the parent-child relationship

Crunch Time

Today the Calendar reads May 25th. Depending on the school, we are anywhere from 2-4 weeks away from summer break. I'm sure most of you have started your countdown. Some teachers and parents who I've recently spoken to are as close as 10 school days away until summer vacation. This is super exciting stuff. Another year past of so many accomplishments, successes, and milestones. The light at the end of the tunnel is shining so bright (for some). For others, the next fews weeks are the most intense days of the school year. Exams are on the horizon, expectations are at their highest, and everyone's cortisol levels are off the charts. It's basically a full moon for the next month. Watch out for those crazy students! Till this day, my own loving mother will vouch that through all those hundreds of years I was in school, she went out of her way during exam time to avoid eye contact, conversation, and interactions with me. She basically warned anyone who crossed my path to move over quick! Smart lady! It didn't take her long to figure out that exam brought out a side of me that wasn't my usual self. Over the years I developed my own coping strategies for managing exam stress. Some students develop their coping strategies early on in their academic career, while other never figure it out. Given how overwhelming exams can be-It's easier for some students to just give up and avoid exam prep all together than to persist through the stress and figure it out. This is especially true for students who have learning disabilities, deal with executive functioning challenges, as well as attention deficit disorders. Over the years, many teachers and parents have asked how to best support the overwhelmed student who prefers to avoid than tackle. Here it is.... the top 5 ways to support a struggling learning through crunch time. I hope this helps reduce stress all around. Best of luck!

- Cori

PROVIDE A TUTOR OR STUDY COACH

Being a parent and being a teacher are 2 extremely different roles. They each come with their own set of parameters and relationship dynamics. One of the most common pieces of feedback I hear from my clients are "I tried to tutor my child but we just ended up fighting or arguing". Students need emotional support from their parents during exam time. Emotional distress around studying shouldn't be caused by interactions with their parents. To avoid this clash, find a suitable tutor or study coach for your child. Some schools offer wonderful peer-tutoring programs, take advantage of this! Some teachers offer after-school hours support, take advantage of this! Hiring a private tutor or study coach to work 1:1 with your child will help reduce stress on both the parent and student end. You will know when a tutor is suitable if they can understand your child's needs and set a goal plan to meet those needs. Students should be involved in developing the goal plan so they feel a sense of responsibility. You don't want someone showing up to your house for the sake of just showing up. 

GET YOUR LEARNER ORGANIZED

If you are a parent or teacher dealing with a struggling learner, the first step is to help the learner get organized. What does this entail you ask? Here it is... most teachers will hand out an exam summary study outline- make sure your learner has this. If they don't, make sure they get it. Once they have this, make sure they have all the notes to support the exam review. If they don't have them, make sure they get them. There are a few options for this; ask a friend in their class who is good at taking notes, check the school or class online structure (if applicable)- some teachers will post notes online, and lastly ask the teacher for the notes. Once the exam study outline and notes have been collected- create a system to house all of this. Some students like making an exam study binder-where they divide it up per subject, others find keeping subjects separate in their respective binders is effective. Once everything is organized.... get studying!

CREATE A STUDY SCHEDULE

Study schedules are effective because they provide students with structure in a such an overwhelming time. If capable, students can create study schedules on their own or with the support from a teacher, tutor/study coach, or parent. I always like to print out a blank calendar and write out my schedule- using a different colour pen or marker for each subject. I always start by inputting the exams on the calendar and then by inputting study blocks starting from the last exam moving backwards. Make sure your schedule is realistic and not just pretty on paper. Allow for some downtime here and there. The brain needs opportunity to relax in such a stressful time. How much study time you allot to each subject is relative to how big the exam is and how much of the content is already mastered. Each study block should include breaks. Those breaks should include some form of physical activity. A short walk will do- it's nice outside so take advantage! Lastly, there should be accountability for the schedule. Parents should check in to see if their learner is on track, teachers should check in to see how studying is going at home and tutors/study coaches should be helping students revise their study schedules as they go. The most important thing here is that a study schedule is a working document and can be altered and revised as the student goes.

EAT. EXERCISE. SLEEP (REPEAT)!

During exams you want to focus on nurturing the brain. Try to think of the brain independent of the learner. There is tons of research out there that has proven the brain functions at optimal levels when it gets sufficient nutrients, adequate rest, and exercise. These 3 factors will help to reduce cortisol levels (stress hormone), which will aid is studying and overall wellness. Breakfast is indeed the most important meal of the day- try to kick in some potassium (it's good brain food). Eat lots of high protein snacks throughout the day (one of my all time favourites is a sliced apple with almond butter...mmmm...). I would also try to avoid eating high sugary foods as they have been proven to create that burn-out feeling quicker than other foods.  8 hours of sleep is ideal and a minimum of 30-minutes of exercise a day is enough to keep things in check. The moral of the story here is your learner should be eating. exercising. sleeping. then repeating it all over again! Cramming all night on a stomach full of gummy bears and a bag of chips is a major no no (guilty!). 

CELEBRATE

Students should have something really good to look forward to after the exam period. Plan an exciting outing, activity, celebration, or vacation once that last exam is complete. Having something really good to look forward to always helps a student through a stressful time. It's always helpful to know the light shines bright at the end of the tunnel. Most students will be happy just knowing school is over but might be a little more motivated to get some effective studying in if there's an alternative MO. My MO to get the studying done was always knowing that a fews days after that last exam was handed in, I could go splurge at Walmart in preparation for a summer away at overnight camp with all my friends. I always loved buying the most unnecessary stuff for camp. I probably ended up spending more than I ever made during the summer :)

I would love to hear feedback on how you are supporting your learner through the exam stress. Be in touch!!

Motivating the Unmotivated

One of the best parts about being an educator is that you also get to be a student. Student learns from Teacher and Teacher learns from Student. It's a wonderful symbiotic relationship. I find myself learning from my students and clients all the time. This is not limited to all the typical learners out there. The same holds true for all my students and clients with learning disabilities, attention deficit disorders, executive functioning challenges, poor self regulation skills, motor planning issues, and the list goes on....

One of the biggest challenges as an educator who works with students with different exceptionalities, is trying to find ways to motivate the student to learn. There is no doubt that motivation is the key to successful teaching and learning. So... how do you do this with with a student who is labelled as "gifted" but has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), an anxiety disorder, extremely poor fine motor skills and very weak coping skills- all at the same time??? Sounds like a recipe for disaster (especially when his History assignment is due in 2 days). My approach to this is to identify the student's strengths and use them to boost the weaknesses. In this case- this particular student is very intelligent, has strong verbal skills, and loves technology. It just so happens his teacher has the class using Google Docs to produce and organize assignments. BINGO! Smart smart Teacher! He followed the classroom structure of doing his work on the computer in Google Docs- however had the brilliant idea to open his Google Drive app on his iPhone and use the microphone to dictate his thoughts, which we watched get automatically typed on the computer screen in front of us. By the end of our one hour session- his assignment was just about complete and he felt accomplished! I found ways to motivate him by tapping into his interests (technology), reduced the fine motor demand (no handwriting or typing), maximized his verbal skills (dictating), and kept him on task (because he was motivated). What a success! Here's the strategy we used- I hope it's useful to help you #educate #motivate and #accelerate your students!

-Cori

Once signed into your student's Google account on the computer- open up the Google Drive and create a new Google Doc (give it a good title). Once this is done open up your Google Drive app on your mobile device and find the new doc. you just created-open it up!

On your mobile device, pull up your keyboard and press the microphone button- start dictating those awesome thoughts and ideas. Make sure your student talks sloooow and clear. You should see those brilliant words appear on your mobile screen. After each sentence or 2- hit 'done' and they will appear on your computer screen.

The beauty of this is you don't have to remember to 'save' your document because Google does this for you automatically every few seconds. Tada! You did it!

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If you want any further information on the strategies mentioned above, please don't hesitate to be in touch. I love sharing the goods! Looking forward to hearing from you.