Let Them Make a Mess

I read a blog post once by Sherry at Large Family Mothering.  I don't know the exact post anymore, but in it she was talking about how she keeps the kids around her throughout the day.  This cuts down on the mess through the rest of the house including the bedrooms and the basement.  I've been trying this lately and it works really well, especially when I have extra kids during the day for my Day Home or if I have a friend's kids for the afternoon.  

This is the living room which is just off the kitchen.  I bring out a bunch of toys from my toy rotation downstairs, plus some of the the bigger things from the bedrooms, like the doll house, the play kitchen, or even a toy box.  Then I let them make a mess.

There are good things to this method.

1. The mess is contained, therefore the cleanup is easy.
2. I can keep a closer eye on what's going on.  I was finding that if I let Bekah and her Day Home friend play in Bekah's room, things were going on without me knowing about it. At different times  when I checked on them I caught three kids jumping on the toddler bed.  I caught one of them jumping up and down on the toy box.  I caught one of them sitting on top of the doll house.
3. It's easier to break up a disagreement and find out who did something to someone else or who started something.

We also do a lot of activities at the kitchen table.

1. Busy bags
2. Coloring
3. Playdough
4. Lego
5. Puzzles
6. Read Books
7. Crafts
8. Leap Pad Games
9. And of course, homeschool!

So, between the kitchen and the living room, things stay under control.  Now that the kids are used to this method, they don't even mind.  And hubby likes it too.  If he comes home early and sees a big mess in the living room, he knows the rest of the house will probably still be in order.