My children love to do their chores, they practically beg my wife and I to give them something to do or clean up. We’re making messes left and right here to make sure we satisfy our children’s need to clean! Sound too good to be true? That’s because it is!
Listen, no child was born a “cleaner”, though it seems some are more inclined towards cleanliness than others. But you can turn cleaning into a family activity that kids and adults can enjoy. We have a designated chore day in the Diaz house and getting the kids to participate used to be a chore in itself. But, I have found a couple tricks that turn the housework into a fun family time!
House Cleaning Tips for Kids
Make It A Game
Do you remember when Huckleberry Finn tricked Tom Sawyer into painting a fence for him by making it look like the most fun chore ever? Well, it works! We like to play a chore “Race game” and race each other to get chores done the fastest. Winner gets extra dessert or another treat! Look for something your child likes to motivate him or her. At home I created a fun cleaning robot scavenger hunt and my little guys just love pretending he is a robot that cleans everything. You can get the fun robot scavenger hunt cleaning day printable right here!
Pump up the music!
Can you salsa and shammy? We can! Schedule a specific time to start the cleaning and pump the music . Whip and NeNe your house into shape and even sneak in some extra exercise by upping the tempo!
Negotiate A Reward
My wife and I feel like we are the only ones in the house that can see the messes. So now Instead of a traditional allowance system,we encourage the kids to walk around the house with a clipboard to make note of any jobs they think need to be done. We sit down afterwards and negotiate their “compensation” for completing those tasks. It helps give kids a sense of ownership of the house and its upkeep plus a little spending money goes far with children!
Use a Timer
Cleaning days are easier when the house doesn’t fall into utter chaos throughout the week. So, we set a timer 10 or 15 minutes before bed. The children scramble around, putting away toys bookbags, random articles of clothing etc.. so that come cleaning day most everything is put away and the cleaning can happen more quickly!
Layer the Clean
Cleaning day is a good time to teach children the proper way to clean; believe it or not they will eventually need to do it for themselves! It’s important to teach kids about not just visually cleaning but making sure all the germs are gone as well to keep the whole family healthy and illness free!
To make your family cleaning day a little more fun I created a cleaning robot scavenger hunt printable. The kids embark in cleaning missions to win the final prize which is usually a small toy or a fun day out with the family.
Whatever you do, try to make cleaning fun and educational and you’ll notice cleaning day goes much more smoothly and quickly in the future!
If you like to share some other great ideas to make cleaning fun please tell us and happy cleaning!
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Que linda idea para motivarlos a ayudarnos en casa!
Muy de acuerdo contigo en que hay que convertir las tareas en juego para que los chicos las consideren , un momento agradable. En casa no faltan Clorox y Pinesol.
Siempre es importante que los nenes aprendan a ayudar en la casa y tambien a limpiar very nice tips my friend =)
I love that your kids are helping cleaning the house!