Junk Drawer Activity
Make a game of cleaning the junk drawer!
Submitted by
Andrey Ragozin
Andrey Ragozin
Get your kid to help you sort through your junk drawer. Not only will you get some serious help organizing your stuff, but your child will flex his counting and sorting muscles. Now that's what we call a win/win activity!
- Junk drawer:Start with the one in the kitchen. (We wouldn't want Junior digging through the one by your bed, if you know what we mean.)
- Newspaper
- Plastic drawer organizers:Optional, but nice for preventing all that hard work from getting undone. Find them at your local hardware store, Target or at a specialty shop like The Container Store. In a pinch, try using plastic bags or old baby food jars to sort small items.
- Trash can:Keep it near by. We have an inkling not everything in the junk drawer is worth keeping.
1, 2, 3 ... DUMP! Lay down some newspaper and enlist your child to help you dump the junk drawer splat onto it. He'll like this part!
Encourage your child to start digging through the junk. Have him pair up like items. For example, get him to put all of the coins in one pile, the pens in another, the batteries in a third. You may want to let him keep any change he finds as a little extra incentive.
Toss anything that didn't get paired up, is frightfully old or (yuck) is moldy into the trash.
Next, have him put the items into your organizer, small baggies or old baby food jars, keeping the rubber bands together in one section, the birthday candles in another and so on.
When everything has been sorted and given a home, have him fit the drawer containers into the drawer (hello spatial relations!) and voilà—next time you're looking for a triple A battery, you just might find it!
See how long your junk drawer stays tidy. We're betting two weeks, max.
- This is not a good activity for children under the age of 3, as there will likely be many small items, such as pennies, that pose a choking hazard to babies and toddlers.
- For older kids, encourage them to tackle the activity on their own for a little extra allowance money… and maybe a chance to find those Pokémon cards they've been missing.
Submit!
