Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Organising Tips for After School Activities

Today I thought I would share some of the things I do to organise all the gear associated with after school activities. Each week Rosie and Harry have swimming lessons and Rosie also has dancing as well.
Swimming gear all ready to go into bags
They love these activities but they do have the potential to become overwhelming if you don't put steps in place to make it easier on yourself. :)
Swimming gear packed for the week
The way I manage them is to get a separate bag for each child and each activity. Yes, this can mean a lot of bags (in our case, we have three) but they are well worth it.
Rosie's dancing gear all set to go
On the weekend I pack each bag for the week and have them all ready to go. For Rosie this means her dance clothes, Jazz shoes and a packaged snack such as a muesli bar or rice crackers. Everything gets placed in the bag and put by the door on the day of the activity so we can grab it on our way out in the morning.
This Penny Scanlan strawberry bag is the perfect size for dancing gear
In their swimming bags I pack their towels, togs, goggles and pyjamas. Yes, pyjamas. They have a late swimming lesson which doesn't finish until 6.30pm so after they get out of the pool, Taff takes them to the showers and then they put on their PJ's to come home in. This means there is one less job to do when they get in the door and it works well for our family.
All the bags ready to go for the week
After they finish each activity I unload the bags in the evening and try to restock them with a fresh towel, togs, etc so that they are all ready to go for the following week. Usually on the weekend I will double check them to see if I need to add anything extra. I keep all of the packed bags in a plastic crate in the wardrobe and just grab the appropriate bags we need on the day. This simple system has made it a lot easier for us to manage extra after school activities in our family. :)

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