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Clean Up Timer
Pick a length, say who is tidying what, and press Start. The disc turns yellow at two minutes left and red for the last minute.
How long to set for tidy up time
| Situation | Time | What to say |
|---|---|---|
| Clearing the table for a meal | 2 min | “Crayons in the tub, paper in the tray” |
| Classroom, end of an activity | 3–5 min | One job per table group |
| Toys after play at home | 5 min | “Blocks in the blue bin” |
| End-of-day classroom reset | 10 min | Jobs chart: floor, chairs, shelves, bins |
| A child’s bedroom | 10–15 min | One zone at a time: floor, then bed, then desk |
There is no official guidance on how long tidying should take. These are starting points; shorten them if the room is done early and the last minutes turn into play.
How to use it
- Choose a time with the chips. Five minutes is set to begin with; one, two and three minutes suit a quick reset, ten and fifteen a whole room.
- Give each child one job or one zone before you start: “You have the blocks, you have the books.” Then press Start and the full-screen button.
- When the disc turns yellow there are two minutes left. Say it once, and point children who have finished to a job that is still open.
- At red there is one minute to go: last things away, lids on. When the bell sounds, everyone stops and you do a quick check together.
Tidy-up is a transition, so the warning matters
Clean-up time is rarely about the mess. It is the moment a child has to stop playing, and stopping is the hard part. A countdown they can see gives them the notice that a sudden “time to tidy” does not. The color change does the reminding for you: yellow is the two-minutes-left warning, red is the last minute, and nobody has to call it across the room.
“Clean the room” is too big to start on. A named job is not: “cars in the red box”, “all the books back on the shelf”. Young children do one such job well and then need the next one. Older children can take a zone. Some families make it a beat-the-timer game, trying to finish before the disc turns red; if you like music, play a tidy-up song from another app alongside the timer.
Using it as a clean up timer for the classroom
Put the timer on the board in full screen so every table can see it. Agree a freeze signal first, a raised hand or a chime, so the class stops and listens before the countdown begins. A jobs chart saves the daily negotiation: floor, chairs, pencils, library corner, with names that rotate each week.
Three to five minutes is enough after one activity. Keep ten for the end-of-day reset, when chairs go up and bags come out. Finish with a quick check and say what went well by name of the job, not the child who was slowest.
Common mistakes
- Saying “clean up” with no jobs given. Half the group will wander, because nobody knows where to start.
- Setting fifteen minutes for a five-minute job. The spare time fills with play and the timer stops meaning anything.
- Redoing a child’s work in front of them. If the bin is the right bin, leave the crooked lid; fix the rest later or show them next time.
- Starting the timer while children are still mid-game with no notice. Give a short heads-up first, then start the countdown.
Questions people ask
How long should clean up time be?
About 5 minutes for toys after play, 3 to 5 minutes in a classroom after an activity, and 10 to 15 minutes for a bedroom or an end-of-day reset. Those are starting points, not rules.
When do the colors change?
The disc is green while it runs, turns yellow when two minutes are left and red for the last minute. On a one- or two-minute timer the warning color shows from the start. You can move both points or switch the traffic-light warning off in the settings.
Does the clean up timer play music?
No. It plays an end sound, a bell unless you pick another. If you want a tidy-up song, play it from another app or a speaker while the timer runs.
At what age can children tidy up by themselves?
Toddlers can put a few things in a bin with you beside them. By about four or five most children can do one named job alone, and primary-school children can manage a zone. Every child is different, so start small.
What if they do not finish before the timer ends?
Stop anyway, look at what got done and name it. Then set one or two more minutes for the one job that is left. Finishing on a short second timer is better than letting the first one drift.