Little Ellie had a very busy day. And when we say busy, we mean the best kind of busy day. First thing in the morning at kindergarten, she and her friends built a toweringly high tower of wooden blocks. It was so high it almost touched the ceiling! Then, in the yard, she learned a new song about a ladybug who lost her spots. And in the afternoon, when her mommy took her to the park, she counted all the ducks in the pond. There were exactly twelve of them.
Every new thing Ellie learned, every game, every song, every number, created a small, colorful thought in her little head. But during the day, the thoughts just kept pouring in, one on top of the other. Imagine a small room where you throw toys, books, and crayons all day without tidying them up. That's exactly what it looked like inside Ellie's brain in the evening.
A jumble of scattered numbers mixed with the notes of the lost song. The blocks from the tower had fallen and were mixed up with pictures of ducks. It was a cheerful but thorough mess everywhere. Ellie yawned, brushed her teeth, gave her mom a goodnight kiss, and before she knew it, she was asleep.
And that's when it began.
The moment her eyes closed and her breathing slowed, little lights switched on in her brain-town. Out of tiny little houses hidden in the folds of her brain ran three tiny little people in blue overalls. They were the Brain Tidiers.
The first was Brighty. He had glasses on his nose and held a map and a small notebook in his hand. He was their commander and planner. He always knew what needed to be done and where.
The second was Sparkle. He was full of energy and clutched his favorite tool – a firefly vacuum. This vacuum not only collected the dust and crumbs of forgotten thoughts, but it also buzzed and glowed cheerfully.
The third in the team was Whisper. She moved as silently as a breeze, and her task was the most important. With her gentle fingers, she placed all the important memories and knowledge on the right shelves in the huge Library of Memories.
"Alright, team, let's get to it!" Brighty commanded, looking at his map. "We've got a big mess from the Playground of Ideas today. First, let's take a look at that song."
They approached a pile of tangled words and notes that looked like a ball of colorful threads. The words "ladybug," "lost," and "spots" were so tangled together they couldn't be read.
"Phew, this is a real tangle," sighed Sparkle, and was just about to turn on his vacuum.
"Wait!" Whisper stopped him. "We can't vacuum them up. Ellie wants to learn that song. We have to gently untangle them."
Whisper carefully took the end of one thread and began to pull it slowly. Brighty showed her on the map which word belonged to which note. Together, just like untangling a knotted ball of yarn, they separated all the words and notes.
"A ladybug sat on the grass," Whisper began to sing softly as she placed the words in the right spot. "And cried right at high noon," Brighty joined in, adding the next part. "That she'd lost her spots, oh dear, what a misfortune!" they finished together, and the whole melody suddenly lit up like a string of Christmas lights.
"Excellent!" Brighty praised them and checked off the first task in his notebook. "Now for the blocks!"
They moved to the spot where the collapsed tower of blocks lay. Some of the blocks were cracked, and one had even rolled all the way to the Path of Laughter.
"Why did the tower fall?" Brighty wondered aloud. "Aha! I know!" He pointed to the base of the tower. "The bottom blocks were too small, and the biggest, heaviest ones were on top. It couldn't have held."
This was Ellie's first attempt at building such a tall tower. It didn't matter that it fell. That's why they were here, to fix it and store the memory of how to do it better.
"Sparkle, hand me that big square block," said Brighty. "We'll put that one at the very bottom. On top of it will go the others, nicely from largest to smallest. That way, the tower will be strong and stable."
Together, they began to rebuild the tower. They placed each block carefully in its place. Whisper even polished the slightly scuffed ones with a soft cloth. When they were finished, the tower stood straight and proud. Brighty drew a small picture of a stable tower in his notebook and added a note: "A wide base is important." Whisper then stored this note on the shelf labeled "How Things Work."
"And now for the best part!" Sparkle exclaimed cheerfully and ran towards the pond, where confused numbers were flying about. The ducks Ellie had counted had scattered and were hiding behind thoughts of dinner.
"How many were there, anyway?" Sparkle asked, trying to catch the flying number eight.
Brighty looked at his records from the day. "Ellie counted twelve ducks. We have to find them all and put them in order."
A great search began. Whisper found the number nine hidden behind the memory of the taste of strawberry ice cream. Sparkle gently sucked up the number three with his vacuum, which had gotten stuck on the Path of Curiosity. Brighty discovered the number eleven, peacefully floating in the stream of forgotten dreams.
When they had all the numbers from one to twelve, they lined them up neatly in a row. "One, two, three..." Whisper counted aloud. "...ten, eleven, twelve!" Brighty finished.
They smiled. All the ducks returned to the pond, and the numbers above them shone in the correct order. Whisper took this organized memory, shrunk it to the size of a small pearl, and carefully placed it in the box labeled "Math in the Park."
Finally, Sparkle turned on his firefly vacuum to its lowest setting and vacuumed up all the leftover mess – tiny scraps of unimportant thoughts, little worries that had bothered Ellie during the day, and the dust of tiredness. The entire brain-town was suddenly clean, bright, and orderly.
Brighty looked at their work with satisfaction. "Excellent job, team. Everything is in its place. Ellie will be smarter and well-rested in the morning."
The sun slowly began to rise, and its first rays pierced into Ellie's little room. For the tidiers, this was the signal that their night shift was over. They quickly returned to their little houses and turned off the lights.
Ellie woke up, stretched her arms, and yawned. She felt fresh and full of energy. She sat up in bed and suddenly began to sing, "A ladybug sat on the grass, and cried right at high noon..." She remembered the whole song!
Then she looked at her blocks and knew right away: "Today, I'll build an even taller tower! But I'll put the biggest blocks on the bottom!"
And when her mommy told her at breakfast that they would go to the lake again, Ellie smiled and said: "Great! Yesterday there were twelve ducks. I wonder how many there will be today!"
Everything that had seemed chaotic and new yesterday was suddenly clear and stored exactly where it was supposed to be. And all thanks to three small, hardworking tidiers who worked hard through the night to make sure her little head was ready for new adventures.
And what do you think, children? What will you learn today to give your brain tidiers something to do tonight?