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Spring Cleaning with Kids

I hate to clean and would never pretend to be an expert.  I have discovered a few tips that have helped get my girls involved in the process. If I want them to help, I need to make it as fun and enjoyable as possible. Here is what works for me.

Spring Cleaning for Kids

  • Setting a Timer: I challenge my girls to clean one room in a certain amount of time. I set a timer to go off and we clean super fast to see if we can meet the deadline. My girls love this and it gives them a beginning and an end to cleaning. I usually set it for about twenty minutes. It’s amazing what you can accomplish in that amount of time when you are focusing on cleaning.
  • Bridge: My girls have a perfectly fun room upstairs in our house but for some reason all of the toys and blankets always end up on our main level. I pile up all of their belongings at the bottom of the stairs and we play a game called bridge (not to be mistaken for the card game). One child goes at the bottom of the stairs one at the top and one in the middle and we toss the stuff from one person to the next until all of their toys are upstairs. They love this. I think it’s the throwing of the stuff that makes it so much fun. They giggle if someone misses the catch and the object comes tumbling back down the stairs. They love to see how much cleaner the room looks without all of their stuff in it.

Make Cleaning Fun for Kids!

I know that it would be easier to just do all the cleaning myself. But they would not learn a thing. I have fun with my girls when we clean this way. It is good quality time with them. I know it makes them want to help me more when they know it is going to be fun.

What tips do you have for getting your kid’s to help clean?

Carly is a contributing writer for Mommy Moment. She has 3 very dramatic but beautiful girls ages 7, 5, and 2. Carly loves to write, cook, and connect with other moms through this crazy thing called blogging! See what she has been up to over at www.livingthescream.com.

Kay Flanery

Saturday 21st of May 2016

When my kids were a little older, 9 to 16, we would make a list of all the cleaning tasks. They got to pick which tasks they wanted. So what if I always had to clean the bathrooms, the kids would do the furniture & glass polishing, vacuuming & even mop the kitchen floor. We also all worked at the same time.

It taught them to clean up after themselves & make a list of all the tasks, so it was clear when we were finished.

laurel

Monday 30th of May 2011

i love your method lol. great idea , thanks, my youngest is 13 now, so he just wants to sell all his toys, also, tweeted this and shared it on my facebook, thanks for all the good advice and info

tomgirlbc

at yahoo.ca

Jacki Ball

Monday 25th of April 2011

Great ideas!!!

Alicia C.

Wednesday 13th of April 2011

Thanks for the ideas. My little guy has no sense of time yet, but as soon as he does we'll be using the timer! He loves going fast when cleaning up toys, so this would just add to the fun.

Jessica

Wednesday 13th of April 2011

Cleaning with my kids is the single most frustrating part of our week! They are either super helpful or cry and whine the whole time, its 100% or 0. These are great ideas, I am going to try the bridge one in the morning. Anything that will get them to help without complaint, I will try it! One idea that seems to work for us is that we took away the big messy toy box, replacing it with a cabinet full of shoe box size tupperware containers. They are stackable and each has one specific type of toy in it (airplaces, cars, little pets, mini dolls, etc) It helps them to know where each kind of toy goes, and both the lids to the boxes and the cabinet doors are easy access so they can own the space.