Anything that doesn’t fit elsewhere. Thoughts on podcasts, things I made, and ideas I wanted to check against the literature.
Miscread more
Tidy-Up Timer Songs for Kids
Put the music on, tidy up together, and when the song ends, the room is done. That’s the idea behind my tidy-up timer songs. Each song lasts 3, 5, 10, or 15 minutes, so the song itself is the timer. In the video, a messy children’s room gets tidier one toy at a time until it sparkles in the last ten seconds. Kids can see how far along they are and that the end is coming.
Misc
Toothbrushing Songs for Kids
My toothbrushing songs are brushing timers for kids, in a 2-minute and a 3-minute version. A calm voice tells kids which teeth to brush next, and in the video a dirty smile gets cleaner step by step until it sparkles at the end. They come in English, German, and Dutch, and you'll find all the links below. Before making them, I checked what the research and the official guidelines say about children's toothbrushing.
read moreHow long should kids brush?
Misc
Top 10 Cleanup Songs for Kids
There are hundreds of cleanup songs on YouTube. Which ones are actually good for getting a room tidied? Instead of going by gut feeling or view counts, I scored the best-known cleanup songs in English, German, and Dutch on five criteria that follow from the research in Do Cleanup Songs Really Help Kids Focus?.
read more- Length: long enough to actually tidy something.
- Tempo: upbeat music sets a faster pace.
- Instructive lyrics: the song tells kids what to do.
- Clear ending: kids can see or hear the end coming.
- Singable: simple enough to sing without a screen.
The winner is a Dutch song with a built-in 5-minute countdown: Simsala Saartje – Het opruimlied.
Misc
Do Cleanup Songs Really Help Kids Focus?
In an episode of the Diary of a CEO, neuroscientist Dr. Sahar Yousef explains why cleanup songs work so well with little kids: the song has a clear beginning and a clear end, the kids know it will end, and so they become goal-oriented and speed up, especially towards the end. I made 48 [tidy-up timer songs](https://www.allmer.de/blog/misc/tidy-up-timer-songs/) for kids in English, German, and Dutch, so I wanted to know whether this holds up in the peer-reviewed literature.
read moreIs there a study showing that cleanup songs make kids tidy faster?
