Cleaning Games for Kids Part 2

by

 

How can we go from this:
IMG_4168

to this?
IMG_4189

Picking up is something that has to be done so often, it’s nice to spice it up sometimes! Here are some games you can try with your family:

Train Game

You take an imaginary train to different rooms in the house. Someone is in front and everyone else holds onto the hips of the person in front of them. Make sound effects like “chugga chugga choo choo!” etc. When you get to the room, everyone picks up one thing (or however many things you decide).

Name Game

Say “if your name is Bubba, please pick up that paper” and keep going with names until you say your child’s name. Also, “if you’re 100 years old, can you put that cup in the kitchen” or  “if you have purple hair, put that ball in the toy box” etc. until you say their age or hair color.

Deck of Cards

Take a deck of cards and use the lower numbers. Kids pick a card and have to pick up that many things. Keep going with more cards until the room is clean. I got this idea from the book  How To Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk by Faber and Mazlish (great book, by the way).

Beat Mom

Everyone goes in their bedrooms and they try to get their room clean before mom can complete hers…of course the kids always win! Thanks to Savannah from http://hammocktracks.com for this brilliant idea!

And, in case you missed it, here are the games I highlighted in my first post about Cleaning Games for Kids:

Take Turns Game

Pick a room and take turns telling each other one thing to pick up or a task. The kids like choosing what you will have to do. Keep going until the room is clean.

Incentive

If they request to watch t.v. or a movie, give them a small job to do before they can watch. Sometimes I say “okay, but why don’t you _______ while I’m getting the show started.”

Every Room Game

Tell them you want to play a game with them. Here is the game: go to each room in the house and you each pick something up in that room. Quality time and getting a few random things picked up — win/win.

Pay Them

Pay them coins to do extra jobs above and beyond what they are expected to do. Bonus: they learn about counting and managing money. They can save up to buy something.

Joke Around

“Where does your coat go? In the bathroom?”
“Where does this car belong? In the dishwasher?” It gets them smiling at the very least.

Good luck as you try to make picking up as painless as possible!
-Carrie

Linked With:

Making your home sing Mondays Photobucket I Can Teach My Child mop it up mondays
Photobucket

Comments

  1. Well, MY coat belongs in the bathroom, lol! O.k., not really, haha.

    I think I’ve lost my mind because when I read your title I thought you were going to show us ways to clean board games and stuff and I thought “Wow, that’ll be a lot of work but I wonder how she’ll do it.”

    What was I thinking? Lol! What great and fun ideas! My kids would have loved them.

    Thanks so much for linking up to the “Making Your Home Sing Monday” linky party today! 🙂

  2. So very creative! Love “Is You Name…” I see your containers against the wall. That always makes it easy for kids to put things away in. It made cleanup easier for my girls. I was never a fan of a toy box.

  3. This is a great list. Another game that we play is beat mom. We each go into our bedrooms and they try to get their room clean before I can complete mine…of course they always win! Thanks for linking to look what we did.

    • Savannah,
      That is brilliant! I hope you don’t mind I added it to the list with you as the source.
      Thanks so much!
      Carrie

email: mybookboost@gmail.com