Turn tidying up into a game for kids!

When you have kids, it can be tempting to do all the tidying yourself because it’s faster and you won’t be constantly nagging them to pick things up. The only trouble is, if you take this route, you’ll probably still be cleaning up after them when they are teenagers (or young adults who aren’t in a rush to leave home!). A little time now will reap rewards several times over when they are older!

Before you start – make up a few basic rules for whatever game you’re playing. You could offer rewards in the form of stickers they collect and then can ‘spend’ however they like, or go for ice cream, or to the park. Discuss it with the kids first, so you know it’s something of value to them!

Also, be specific. Don’t just say ‘tidy your room’ or ‘put your toys away’ you could say ‘put all your Lego back into its box’ or ‘put all your teddy bears neatly in the corner of your room’. Just saying ‘tidy up’ can mean vastly different things to different humans!

There are lots of benefits as well:

• Your kids will learn to look after their things
• They will learn that if they make the mess, it’s their job to clean up the mess
• They will learn that living in an organised environment is much nicer than living in a mess!
• To make life easier, make sure everything has a home. Label boxes and storage bins or stick pictures on the front for children who aren’t reading yet.  

Games you can play

• Speed cleaning - grab a stopwatch or use your phone and get your kids to have a race to see who can put their toys away the fastest. You could have a leader board and they must try to improve their times the next time they ‘play’.  
• Get your kids to dress up and tidy up in their character – you can see who wins in the tidying battle between Spiderman and Batman! They can also have lots of fun pretending to be a robot or a dinosaur or a crane while cleaning up their mess.
• Write down a list of chores your kids can help with, numbered one to six. Let them roll a dice to see which chore they will be doing. After completing their first chore, they’ll continue rolling the dice to reveal the next item on the list.
• Give them each a storage bin and get them to collect a specific number of items that aren’t in the right place. Then get them to return the items to the right place and the first one back with an empty container, wins!
• Turn chores into a scavenger hunt. Leave clues to a place where they can find instructions for each chore (be specific); for example, ‘fold two towels and put them away in the cupboard in the bathroom’. Then in the cupboard in the bathroom leave another note for the next chore and so on. To make sure your kids don’t run out of steam, you could also leave little treats with the notes. 
• If your house is anything like ours, you’ve probably got a washing basket full of odd socks. Challenge the kids to see who can find the stray socks - they can look under beds, in cupboards, in sports bags or school bags to try and find the lost sock to match with its pair.
• Sorting the laundry. Tip it all out into the middle of the floor and ask the kids to put it all in colour groups for you. Then they get put it in the washing machine and switch it on (this may be more appealing to younger kids than to your older ones!). How to save time in the laundry
• Musical tidying! Start the music and let the kids dance and put away as much as they can before the music stops – then they have to ‘freeze’. Then repeat until everything has been put away.
• Play hopscotch with each square having a chore to be completed.
• And if that isn’t enough fun – wash the car with the kids!

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