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Adventures in Playful Family Living

Making Clean-Up Time More Fun!

Hello there!  I can tell it's the New Year, 'cause I've got cleaning and organizing on my mind.  Every night, before bath and bedtime stuff, the girls clean up their playroom and bedroom (with some Mommy and Daddy help usually…).  Since it is part of our routine, there is usually no fuss about it.  Sometimes, though, we need a little something extra to make the cleaning-up not such a chore.  Here's a few things that we like to do:

  • Use a timer:  Set a timer and see if you can complete the clean-up (or a portion of the clean-up) before the timer goes off.  We usually can get it done in 15 minutes.  Some kids love this, but others find it too stressful (like my 6-year-old!).
  • Roll the dice:  If it looks like a game, my girls are ready to play!  Write 6 jobs down on a piece of paper, such as put away the stuffed animals or tidy the art table.  Everyone rolls the dice and does their job.  You could also assign each number to a certain area of the house or room.
  • Spin the spinner:  Same concept as the dice game — make your own spinner and fill the spaces with rooms, jobs, or chores.  Everyone spins and gets busy!
  • Music:  This is probably the easiest and most effective around here — put on some happy music and dance your way through clean-up.  I'm thinking the girls and I could even put together a clean-up time playlist for the iPod.

I'd love to hear about the ways you have fun during clean-up time!

Happy playing & cleaning!

Comments

  2. I want to try the dice for clean up. We sing the clean-up song or we race. If my son has to bring something upstairs, we try to see if he can do it before I count to 20.

  5. Like Ashely, if we need extra help, we tend to use an I-Spy method. It wasn’t my idea, but my mother-in-law’s, but it works like a charm! The kids enjoy doing it all themselves, and I can even just sit down while I tell them what I spy, they find it, and take it to its put-away spot.
    I like the dice/spinner concept. I might have to try that sometime soon!

  6. I like the dice idea as well. I might try it.
    I’m wondering if you consider your girls to have easy temperaments? Both my children are extremely difficult. My two year old will more willingly help clean up but my nearly 5 year old can not be convinced to help. I get a little discouraged when I read this type of successful parenting tip. I question what I am doing wrong. It always leads me to the question of temperament. I was not dealt an easy hand. This is asked in the most friendly way. :)

    • Have you tried a simple reward system? Start slow. If she can put 5 toys away she can have a snack item that she likes. If she’s like my girls, they like their nails painted. Sometimes I’ll use that as a reward to get their room cleaned up. Last week I told all 3 of my kids that if they could get their rooms cleaned up in an hour, we’d play a game for an hour. My son was the only one who succeeded so we played while the girls kept working.

  8. I have a two year old and he loves when I get out the vaccuum and he has to race to clean up the toys before the vaccuum “eats” them. I go really solow and make it really dramatic:) He loves it.

  14. I have used a similar game. I put each thing my girls were supposed to do to clean their room on slips of paper. I had thinks like “pick up 5 books” or “put 7 toys in the toybox.” I then put the slips of paper in a bowl and they had to draw a slip of paper after each chore was done. When my older daughter began reading well enough, she got to read the slips of paper for both of them. Skills: cleaning, organizing, counting, reading, cooperation.