Clean Up time in the Art Room

It's no secret that managing clean up an art room can be a tad chaotic, and keeping the place clean and organized feels never-ending. Today, I am sharing a few tips and tricks that I learned over the years to not only help you maintain your sanity but maybe become less of a drill sergeant during clean up!

The Clean Up Race: I find that unless the kids are super motivated by…something…clean up time takes forever.  So I make Clean Up a school wide competition for the fastest time. All of my classes are listed on my whiteboard and when it's time I project a stopwatch on the whiteboard. The goal is always 2-3 minutes and they get it most of the time.  The rules: no running- any violation of this means the class gets no score for the week. Also everybody helps-- so you clean up your space and then immediately help others.  The kids quickly learn that helping others improves their clean up time. I have a Clean Up Map on the wall for kids know what they should do first, second, third (keep reading).

A Clean Up Map: Having a clear visual for the clean up process was a game changer for my classroom.  If my students are ever stuck and don't know what to clean up or what in what order, all they need to do is consult the map.  I have an editable (in Canva) version here.

Visible Supplies: As much as possible, have open shelving or clear plastic bins to store supplies. This way there is no hiding a mess or misplaced items.  Keep things like markers, colored pencils etc vertical in cups so anyone can see if a cap is missing or a pencil needs sharpening.

Paintbrush Hot Tub: I stopped having kids wash paint brushes years ago, it just wasn't worth the hassle and destroyed brushes.  Instead, the kids just drop the paintbrushes off head first for a much deserved vacation in hot tub land. (The hot tub is a bucket in the sink).  At the end of the day, it takes me 5 minutes to wash them all at once.

For the little ones-- a clean up song you don't hate: You're going to be listening to this song a lot, don't make it terrible.  We like the Clean Up Song by Gracie's Corner.

I hope you've found this post useful!  

Happy arting (and cleaning),

Kristin