Cleanup games

The day after Christmas i woke up in a very messy house.  We were receiving my husband's family for Christmas.  Immediately i had a flash back of kids running around, tearing down and throwing on the floor Christmas gift wrappings, jumping around on the sofa and spilling hot chocolate on the floor. Sounds familiar?

Just as adults, children require motivation to get things done.  We all know how children love to play.  I believe having fun turns a chore into a game and therefore you have more chances of engaging your child to help you clean.

If you have more than 1 child in approximately same age group you are in luck.  Cleaning up after Christmas could become a competition.  Just try setting up a goal and follow through.  Here are a few examples for all family cleaning fun.

1. Set a competition, whoever gathers most toys and puts them into a storage box wins the challenge and the prize is......fill in the blanks based on your values.

2. Try to set a timing limit to finish a task, whoever does not finish on time will have extra cleaning task. Adding fun music you know your kids like is an added bonus.

3. Play cleaning hide and seek.  Hide a few little toys and while dusting your child should be able to locate all of them.  They will need to be hidden everywhere you want your child to dust so if he/she does not pass by with a duster they won't find them.  The game is not over until all children find all toys. Encouraging your children to help each other locating hidden toys fosters connection, friendship and team work.

4. Assign a kingdom to every child and their goal should be to keep foreign objects away from their kingdom.

At the end of the cleaning games reward your child by placing their favorite Disney, Nickelodeon or Marvel character on their room's wall.

Happy after Christmas cleaning everyone.