It's great to nurture a child's imaginative and inquisitive mind with educational and stimulating toys, but let's face it, it often turns into tantrums and tears when play time comes to an end.

But if you make it fun, then it doesn't have to be the case.

Kids love to help out with small tasks that make them feel important and involved. We have many paint products for you to DIY a playroom to help make that time of cleaning up all the merrier for both you and your young ones.

Take advantage of our special purpose product range to help you encourage efficient pack-up time.

Create a feature writing wall

Use Resene Blackboard Paint to coat an entire wall to create a giant scribbling surface.

Christie Burnett, an early childhood teacher and writer and editor of Childhood 101, suggests identifying clear and familiar places to place certain belongings.

You can write simple directions, such as which toys go where. For example, "teddies go in closet" or "blocks go in red container" are great instructions that are simple enough for your child to learn appropriate places where each item goes while incorporating the learning of colours.

If you're not too keen on chalk dust filling up the room (important to consider if your child has asthma or allergies) then utilise Resene Write on Wall Paint instead. This turns your walls into a coloured whiteboard which is a great way of introducing a classroom-like scenario with your children before they're off to 'big kids' school'.

The ability to write on a wall offers many solutions to making packing up fun. If you have multiple youngsters, then make it into a friendly competition. Create a tally for each kid that picks up the 'special item of the day' – something you single out, whether a toy truck or a crayon, to earn points. This will foster a greater sense of fun to pick up as many toys in the hopes that they get the winning item before anyone else.

Make it magical

Resene Magnetic Magic is a great paint to use to create custom magnets to label where each thing goes and on which shelf/box. Child Care Lounge explains that by using pictures and words, you create a skill-building matching game. This encourages logical thinking skills, as well as seamlessly turns playtime into packing up where it's just another fun activity and not a chore.

Another great idea is to create a magnetic feature wall similar to the blackboard or whiteboard one. It'll keep those annoying small magnets away from your fridge so you and your child can store them all in one place. It creates a hands-on educational place where your child can see the alphabet or picture magnets all at once without hanging around underfoot in your kitchen, so it'll consume their growing minds while keeping them out of your hair.

It's also easier to pack up because all your child has to do is stick each magnet up onto the wall. There'll be no more hard plastic alphabets falling off and rolling under the fridge each time you close the doors. It's also very visually stimulating as they can create a different magnetic wall look each and every day while learning letters and numbers, as well as objects.

Use a timer with your writing wall to see how fast your child can spell something by placing magnets up. Or if you have picture magnets, get them to create a picture scene with every magnet in the span of five minutes and then explain it in the most imaginative way they can.

The ideas for fun pack-up times are endless! All you need is a few minutes and a little imagination.

January 26, 2016

Visit your local Resene ColorShop for expert advice and all the products and accessories you need to make the most of your home.

Book a colour consult | Ask a Colour Expert | Ask a Paint Expert

---

Resene's decorating blog

Paint your home beautiful! Discover the latest decorating trends, tips and colour news.