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10 Ways to Make Cleaning Fun For Your Kids

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Let’s face it, chores can be a drag, even for mom at times. However, the work still needs to get done most times. Try having a little fun along the way because in the words of Mary Poppins, “Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.” Making cleaning fun certainly makes things easier for everyone.

I have found that it really doesn’t take much to make it fun, it’s really just a matter of having a few tricks up your sleeve ahead of time.

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Here are 10 ways to make cleaning fun for your kids.

kids cleaning

1. Hide a treat of some kind

Whether it is something from the dollar store, money, or a sweet treat a simple treat can be a great motivator. Be sure to hide it in a place that can only be found if they have done their job well.

2. Have a contest with a winner

Tell your kids that the winner will get an advantage in some way in the near future. Often this means picking the movie for the night, a get out a job free card, or an extra serving of dessert. Because we have so many kids, we develop teams.

3. Everyone works together on every chore, including you.

Instead of everyone doing their own separate thing, everyone does the work together, moving from room to room.

4. Turn up the tunes

Challenge everyone to get as much work done as possible during one song so everyone can sit the next one out. Continue rotating between working for one song, sitting out for one song.

5. Break up every 20 minutes of work with a quick run around the house or jog up the street

If stuck inside due to weather, jumping jacks, a quick game of simon says, or good old fashioned sit ups and push ups will do. You can get some great ideas from Surviving the Winter Doldrums Exercise 
Plan For Kids.

6. Seems obvious, but a reward tied to work done well always yields a good result

Whether little rewards or a big reward, rewards or incentives is so nice. I even work best with an incentive, don’t you?

7. Give each person their own little stash of supplies to use

You can do this with a feather duster, cleaning rag, and safe cleaner in a spray bottle, whatever you use. Carrying around their own bucket of things can be so much fun.

8. Allow kids to trade jobs with each other

Just make sure they understand that they are ultimately responsible for their chores, so they will want to make sure they are done right.

9. Have your kids trade jobs with you

Oftentimes they will work much harder to clean your room than they ever will to clean their own room.

10. Write all the chores down and put them in a bowl with a simple treat attached

This could be something as simple as a tootsie roll or starburst. But have all the kids each pick out a chore and get the treat when the chore has been completed correctly.

Next time chore day is met with groans, try one of these tips to have some fun while getting the work done, too. Both you and your kids should have a little fun!

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16 Comments

  1. I hadn’t thought about giving them their own cleaning supplies or picking chores from a bowl. Your suggestions seem to make dreaded ‘chores’ fun & feel more like teamwork than an individual task.

    I’m glad to be more connected!

    1. Hi! Thanks for commenting. Yes, whatever it takes to make chores more fun and change things up a bit seems to work best over here

  2. These are such great ideas! We always do family chores, especially on Saturday mornings, and we hear a lot of moaning and groaning. Then it becomes a dreaded task for me — not because of the chores, but because of all the complaining. Thanks for these great ideas!

    1. the complaining is always the worst part, isn’t it?! Hope these tips help lessen some of that for you!

  3. I love the idea of giving kids their own stash of supplies! Somehow setting a timer and seeing how fast she could clean up all her toys always seemed to do the trick with the 4 year old I used to watch 🙂

    1. my kids’ favorite is having a contest…this always makes them work fast and hard

  4. I’m with Sara on the complaining. Sometimes I just want to kick them out and do it myself LOL I think we have a disconnect because, while I don’t love cleaning per se, I do love a clean house and I’m old enough to see the correlation. I think my kids are just now getting to the point of realizing it is constant upkeep, not an hour a week of vacuuming that makes the house sparkle. I love the ideas!

    1. yes. Sometimes I think kids think we can clean once a week and it will just magically stay that way somehow. When we had our house for sale, we would obviously get it all sparkling for showings. We came home and the kids always said “Let’s keep it this way.” Great idea, somehow it never seems to happen, but, my kids do work well with incentives and something to just change it up a bit.

  5. Number 9 is my favorite one, I always get my kids to clean each other’s rooms. They do a much better job than if they were to clean their own rooms!

  6. Just came across your list 🙂 Thanks so much for taking the time to compile an amazing array of useful tips. I can’t wait to try them all 🙂

  7. Hi Jennifer, just readed your post and its really amazing as i am also a mother i will keep your tips in my mind.Waiting for more tips from you.Thanks

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