Organize Clean Dishes Computationally

The STEM way of organizing clean dishes

Play a computational game while organizing kitchen cabinets and drawers.

How to Play

Yes, time to unload clean dishes from dishwasher to put them in the most accessible drawers and cabinets.

There are too many clean dishes to put away. That is completely fine: Relax, take a deep breath and let your children brainstorm and come up with solutions while applying computational thinking concepts and practices.

First thing: Have a back and forth conversations. What is the most accessible and efficient way to put clean dishes in drawer and cabinets? In doing so, each family member can grab any dishes they need in the future.

For example, if you need a fork, spoon, bowl, or plate, it should be at the most accessible place to find.

Step 1: Getting strategic

Instead of unloading the dishwasher, allow your children to unload the dishwasher and put clean dishes in the most accessible place.

Start asking questions like, what is your task here? What can your children do to solve it the most optimum way?

Talk through with your children what would be the most efficient way to put clean dishes in the cabinets and drawers -- and what 'kind' of organizing cabinets and drawers would be the best for family members for future?

Step 2: Conditional Statements

Tell your children that it's time to put their strategic plan in action. For example, will it really be the most optimum place to put fork or coffee maker in? We'll notice what works or what doesn't.

While unloading the dishwasher, you might also want to keep observing how organizing is being completed -- if the ‘task is being solved'. Is your children following their own plan?

Step 3: Reflection

Encourage your child to reflect as they organize. When they completed organizing, have them go through the cabinets and drawers to have experience if there is any challenging.

What could they do to get the dishes as easiest access to find as possible? How can they do this better?

Think about it as collaborative task-completing: how can you devise strategies together to get the kitchen organized problem resolved? Then test them out, see if they work, or what other methods might work better.

Step 4: Getting feedback

When your child finishes the organizing, ask them what it felt like. Was it easy? Was it hard?

Also, challenge them to think through what they could do to improve next time they need to organize kitchen? Is there another step-by-step instruction model they could create, so they can always organize well?

Next week, let them try unloading the dishwasher again to see if they can beat their previous organizing cabinet or drawer from last week.