cleaning up with baby

My daughter is 2 years old and she knows to pick up her toys. She has to be reminded often because she is young and thinks all the time is play time, but she knows when too many toys and games are on the floor she has to pick up. I make cleaning up a little game and it works well.

i don't think it's too early at 16 months to start building good habits, like picking up after ourselves. Of course i wouldn't make him do it ALL himself, but to have him 'help' you. Sure you'll probably clear away the bulk of the toys, but having him help will help build his confidence.

It's also an awesome opportunity to work on speech, as you can have him identify toys before tossing them into the toy box, if he's at the stage where he's talking a little bit, you could also do colours and sizes, etc.

What my daughter thought was fun at that age is something like, "how many red blocks can you put away?" or "Find all the triangle shapes and put them in this basket."

At this age, it is important to tell him specifically what to pick up. Telling him to put all the toys away is going to be way too overwhelming. Instead, say something like, "pick up that ball and put it in the toy box"

Good luck, and have fun with it! Make sure not to get frustrated, though his "cleaning up" will probably be more in the way then helping :D

Ditto what Emily said.
Even when my kids were infants, I had them with me while I was cleaning up, just to establish good habits.
As long as you dont have unrealistic expectations of what he can do himself, there's nothing wrong with having him help.

yeah that's exactly what i mean!

you might want to start by focusing on one attribute at a time, saying something like 'can you put the RED truck into the box?' after a while you can start to make tihngs a little more challenging by asking 2-part questions, like "can you put the RED truck into the box, and give me the green ball?"

if he gets frustrated, it's okay to stop and try again later, but it's important to keep working at it. It -really- helps to build their skills.

I also agree with emily. My son is 17 months and I have him pick up his toys with me helping him and singing the barney song "clean up". And when doesnt want to help any more I tell him thank you for helping clean up.
I also have him throw away his pampers in the trash. Sometimes I dont even have to tell him to do it. I just hand it to him and he knows what to do.
I also take him with me to wash our clothes. And he sits and watches me do the laundry. And by the time I need to put the clothes in the dryer he is already a bit antsy so I have him help me put clothes in the dryer. You just have to keep showing them. Eventually they will pick up on how to do it.

I too sing the Barney song LOL. We've been doing it since she turned 1 or so. And shes really good about it now.

Laerin has been helping clean up since she was old enough to know what she was doing draggin stuff out! I always tell her that i will put up this with her when she puts this up. and she understands it since we are doing it together.

My kids enjoyed this more when they were younger and it seemed like fun, the older they've gotten the more reluctant they are! I thought the habit would say with them, especially as it was encouraged positively.

My eldest can do a load of laundary and clean the dishes real well, so this is fun for him to do now though it is occasional, picking up toys is so passe for him!