This fun orderliness relay is a part of my character-building series, where I provide resources so you can intentionally work with your kids on learning skills and traits to help them and those around them.
Want more lessons on orderliness? Check out this collection of books on the subject.
Orderliness Relay – Character Building Series
In my experience, some kids are born with a brain that naturally wants to organize and keep things clean. That said, it is sometimes hard to differentiate between nature vs. nurture.
One quick testimony is that I definitely am more naturally a type B person. Growing up, my parents got me a poster (that I was offended by, by the way) that said, “I’m not messy; I’m just creative.” That said, my mom was type A, and my husband is type A. I now say, “I’m a learned type A,” who is definitely more comfortable in a clean and organized home.
I shared that to show that doing intentional activities like this orderliness relay can make a difference. My daughter, for example, takes after me by nature, but once she left for college definitely was a driver in a more organized and clean dorm room. Nature is strong, but nurture is also powerful.
An Introduction to this Character Building Series
Welcome to my character building education series where we work on 52 traits throughout the year. 52 traits? Yes! That is one character building trait for every single week of the year.
More good news! Each trait comes with over a week’s worth of lessons. You could work on character with your kids every single day of the year if you chose to follow along.
This character-building activity focuses on orderliness. Here is our initial lesson on orderliness. If following the series, always do that lesson first. Click here for all of my lessons on orderliness.
Now on to today’s lesson.
How to Play the Orderliness Relay
“But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.” – 1 Corinthians 14:40
I came up with a really fun game to fit in with our character development series. I hope you’re joining along. Even if you are not doing the entire series, I think your kids would really enjoy this game. We did. It became my second workout of the day, too, as it is kind of like doing a shuttle run.
- Gather a number of bins, each containing a different item. I chose four bins and did log cabin blocks, normal blocks, balls, and bean bags.
- Throw the items from your bins randomly throughout your yard or house.
- The rules are simple. When you say, “Go,” everyone starts running to collect an item, one at a time. After finding an item, they run back and put their item in the correct bin.
- Keep points as kids drop things into the bins. Whoever is able to collect the most items wins.
- Take turns being the counter so you can play along.
The kids absolutely loved this game. I always end one of these activities with the question, “What is our word of the week?” I also try to do the verse at the same time.
During this debrief, Abby said, “Oh, I know. Our word is orderliness, and this is like when we leave all of our toys out. We have to put them away where they go to keep things organized.” Ah, melt my heart. Are things sinking in? Hopefully. I’m so glad we get to focus on this trait again this week.
Teaching kids that like things get put together is one of the first steps to understanding the basics of organizations.
