‘Have you got your…?
Imagine being able to send your child off to school without the usual dramas, panic, shouts, and screams over lunch boxes, PE kits or homework!
Anxieties over forgotten items can be avoided with a little preparation and practice.
When children have the skills to pack their school bag independently, they can start taking responsibility for their belongings without you having to remind them all the time. This also helps them at the end of the school day when they need to know what to bring home again.
Even the youngest or most disorganised child can soon get the hang of finding and packing everything they need for school, giving them a great sense of achievement too.
Visual checklists are an ideal tool to use when helping your child learn how to get organised and become more independent.
Find the right school bag
With so many bags to choose from it is important to find one that matches your child’s needs.
The main consideration is comfort.
• Does the bag feel good to wear?
• Do the straps feel sufficiently strong?
• When filled, is the weight of the bag evenly spread about?
Choose a sturdy bag that has multiple compartments and zipped pockets. Check that all the fastenings work cleanly and it is easy to access. If you child gets frustrated finding things or struggles with fiddly zips, opt for fewer pockets and Velcro fastenings instead.
Let’s get organised
Start with an empty school bag.
Ask your child to sort out their school things into clear categories. For example, school supplies such as pens, pencils, notebook, communication book in one pile. Items that go back and forth to school like lunch boxes, water bottles and PE kit in another pile.
Assign each item to a compartment or pocket. A big compartment can be for books and their lunch box. A smaller pocket for writing equipment.
A school-home folder is ideal for any loose papers, letters, or permission sheets that need to go back to school.
Make a map
Once everything has its place, help your child draw a picture of their school bag and label what goes where. This school bag ‘map’ will help remind them where things go when they are packing up for the
next day.
Encourage your child to practice emptying their bag and putting everything back in the right place.
Keep a copy of the map in the front pocket of their school bag plus a copy at home.
Pack all the right kit
Use a simple checklist attached to their school bag listing all the things they need to remember to take to school for each day of the week. The checklist should be sturdy and easily seen. Using different coloured lists makes it easy to identify the right list for each day.
Picture cues work well for younger children or non-readers as well as older children and those with additional needs such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, autism, or ADHD.
Getting into the habit of packing the night before is a great way to avoid the last-minute panic searching for homework or PE kit in the morning when you really should be leaving the house!
Bear in mind that children may need lots of practice before they can organise and pack their school bag independently.
Give lots of opportunities to practice these techniques and make forgotten school items a thing of the past.
Make your own checklists
We used the TomTag I can do it pack my bag for school kit to make the examples shown.
If you have any tips to share on organising school bags please leave a comment below.
