Fun Cleaning Ideas for Kids

You all know that my girls can and have created some monster messes. Of course, when it is time to clean up those messes, more often than not, the girls are nowhere to be found. I want them to learn to take responsibility for cleaning up the messes they make.

I am encouraged by the fact that they do enjoy helping me clean and wash the laundry. I don't know if I told you before, but Pookie and Miss Muffet even loaded up the washer, added the detergent and additives, and turned it on all by themselves one day. What a surprise!

Because I do want my girls to know how to clean, I was excited to come across these fun tips from THE MAIDS® Home Services. I thought you might find them useful, too. (If you have any fun cleaning ideas of your own, please share them in the comments of this post.)

• Don’t expect kids to use adult tools to clean, instead create supplies that are kid-friendly. Use an ice-cream pail for mopping chores or shorten an old mop handle or broom to make it kid-sized.
• Fill a squirt gun from a solution of a gallon of water and a drop of dish soap. Let kids squirt windows and mirrors and wipe dry with paper towels. Leaves glass clean and streak free!
• Cover kids’ hands and arms with dad’s old athletic socks then squirt the socks until lightly damp with a safe solution of vinegar and water. Send them off to dust around the house.
• Got a pile of blocks or action figures strewn on the floor? Scoop up toys in a few swoops using a kid-sized leaf rake to form a pile for easy pick-up.
• Make cleaning a game; give young kids grill tongs and challenge them to pick up toys and put them in a toy box or bin only using the utensils. Keep score and see who wins!
• Don’t forget the fun music to help your kids get a groove on as they boogie around the house cleaning.

About THE MAIDS Home Services:
THE MAIDS Home Services, founded in 1979, is the most trusted name in home services due to their consistent quality service and premium products which meet or exceed customers’ expectations. THE MAIDS promises to deliver a cleaner, healthier, happier and more comfortable home…guaranteed because “Nobody Outcleans The Maids.” Rated as the fastest-growing residential cleaning franchise in Entrepreneur magazine for the past four years, THE MAIDS is one of the oldest and largest residential cleaning franchisers in the United States and Canada, serving over 40 states and four provinces in North America. For more information, visit THE MAIDS Home Services’ web site at www.maids.com or call 1-800-THE-MAIDS, “Nobody Outcleans The Maids.”