Clean-Up Trick for Kids

My kids can make a mess faster than anything. We clean-up a room, and it almost feels like they are uncomfortable with the cleanliness because immediately they start to create, build and play. That’s what kids do. It means they are healthy and full of ideas, but I wish they’d be better at taking a small amount out at a time and then putting things away afterward. It’s not innate for any of my kids. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t given a type A child. They also play big, creating whole worlds and scenes that stretch beyond the scope of their doll house, batman cove or kitchen. I have many tricks that I highlight in my post 10 Ways to Make Clean-up Fun for Kids because I like to change things up to keep it interesting and motivating. I have one clean-up trick for kids that I have yet to share with you, but today is the day.

What’s the secret? The secret is doing a quick clean-up to one song. That’s right – one song, and they’re done. I try to turn on a fun song like “Happy,” and let them go for it. Here’s a quick video of what it looks like.

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This clean-up was done in one song and then a final 10 second count-down. My favorite part of the video is at the end when they’re doing the celebration dance. My son swinging the necklace with the straw in the mouth gets me every time. I am raising children with personality, I’ll tell you that much.

I know I have music playing over the top, so I’ll tell you what it going on behind the scenes. I’m there as a motivator. I’m pointing things out that can be picked up and encouraging them to hurry so they can reach the goal of getting it done in one song. They were virtually there in the end, and I helped picked up the final things once the video stopped. If they’ve worked hard, you can also make the choice of letting them be all done as a celebration for their diligence. A song is only a few minutes long, so to make that much progress in just a few minutes with distractible kids really is astounding. I hope this not-s0-secret-anymore clean-up tip helps.