Are you looking for a way to involve your kids in cleaning? Maybe to the point they’ll volunteer to clean? I started involving my kids in my cleaning routine as toddlers and now if I just mention I’m going to clean they run to grab their supplies!
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Getting Kids Involved in Cleaning
I feel it’s important to involve kids in cleaning early on to develop a sense of responsibility AND to help their parents!
I also happen to be one of those people who has a hard time when my house isn’t clean. I don’t mean spotless, I have 3 young boys so it’s never going to be spotless, but I at least don’t want to be walking on crumbs and tripping over toys constantly.
One thing I’ve noticed is I feel better emotionally when I clean, partially because it’s something I can control when everything else seems so out of control. I also like that it has visible and immediate results, unlike so many things in life.
My 3 little boys love helping me clean, and since the products I use mainly just use water, or just the friction of the specially designed microfiber to clean, I feel safe having them help out.
My kids are to the point they just hear the word vacuum, such as I’m going to vacuum, and they run to grab their toy vacuums, it’s pretty cool. I’m typically able to vacuum the main floor, including the dining room which always really needs it, and the upper level with all the bedrooms, without much interruption while they also do their version of vacuuming.
In our house, we use a lot of Norwex® products for cleaning. At the time of writing this, I don’t sell it but I really love the idea of cleaning without using chemicals, especially when the kids help. Some of my favorite products are the Envirocloths, Window Cloths, Dusting Mitt, and Counter Cloths which I discuss more in the post linked here.
After cleaning I did brew myself some more coffee and sit down with my 4-year-old to do some preschool work with him.
Disclaimer: I am a Norwex consultant but don’t currently earn commission through these links.
How to Involve Your Kids in Cleaning
Here are some simple ways to involve your kids in helping you clean, including links to some products we use:
Have a toy vacuum they can use to vacuum with you
My kids love the Cadson Dyson-type kids vacuum. It actually does suck some crumbs up so that’s pretty neat. We had just one but then had to get 3, one for each kid, because they’d all fight over the one.
JUST LIKE THE REAL THING: Explore imaginative play with a toy that looks like the real thing from the twist-and-turn ball to the clear cylinder. Encourage creativity with Casdon's Dyson toy range of vacuum toys and styling sets
Norwex Mop System for dry and wet mopping
The Norwex mop system can be adjusted to be short enough for kids and is washable, reusable, chemical-free.
It comes with a ‘dry’ pad that is meant to replace sweeping and a pad that is often used wet to replace mopping. It’s a much simpler, cleaner, and sustainable substitute to other brands’ versions of disposable mop pads.
We use the mini mop in our bathrooms and the regular size mop in the mudroom, kitchen, and dining room areas. The telescoping handle that comes with either size is able to be tall for adults or short for kids (or short people like me!)
Kid-sized brooms and mops for play
I wouldn’t recommend a full-sized mop or broom as they may end up not watching where the long handle is and may knock things, or people, over with it.
REALISTIC WOODEN CLEANING SET FOR KIDS - This colorful, childrens cleaning set looks just like the real thing and includes a wooden pretend play broom, mop, duster, dustpan and brush, and organizing stand; the red dustpan conveniently clips into all handles.
Kids Pretend Play Cleaning Set
If you aren’t quite ready for your kids to do actual cleaning but want to get them interested, you can have them use this set.
Great for pretend play or bath play: the Melissa & Doug Spray, squirt & squeegee play set includes a waterproof Caddy with Cleaning supplies That spray, squirt, scour, and scrub. The real squirting and spraying actions make it ideal for bath play.
Dusting
Each one of our kids has a Norwex Dusting Mitt that they LOVE using to help dust (originally I bought just one but soon they were fighting over it so now we have 4 total so I can dust as well).
I write about them dusting more in this blog post: My Kids Love to Help Me Dust
Want to Learn More About Norwex?
I’ve truly found that using Norwex products are a great way to clean my home without harmful chemicals and an easy way to involve my kids. Click on the button below to learn more about what Norwex is, their sustainability mission, how it works, and some of the top products.
Looking at the post below is a no-pressure way to learn more about Norwex without anyone knowing. I won’t even know so I won’t contact you to follow up or anything. You can just learn more about how it all works and then decide if you want to purchase or not.
Other Chores For Young Kids:
- They can help gather laundry from each room and hamper and help fill the washer (my kids really enjoy this)
- They can empty the clothes dryer and sort laundry depending on whose it is and simple things like matching socks
- My kids really enjoy shoveling snow outside, even if it hasn’t snowed in a week then they just take snow from the snowbank and plop it on the driveway to shovel all over again (I hope they continue to enjoy shoveling)
What are some things you have your young children help you with around the house?
As a mom of identical twins and a son two years older, I have gained invaluable experience in the realm, and chaos, of parenting. With a Master's Degree and Education Specialist Degree in School Psychology, I spent years as a school psychologist, helping children navigate through their educational and emotional challenges. Now as a stay at home mom and professional blogger, I combine my areas of expertise to help you in your parenting journey.
I love your ideas my children & grandchildren all enjoyed helping & it does distil in them that sense of responsibility. So great lessons, I also hope for you they continue to love shovelling.
These are great suggestions to have the kids involved in our everyday cleaning! I think it’s so neat they make vacuums for kids! My siblings and I really enjoyed cleaning when we were children also and had a bunch of mini brooms and dustpans around 🙂 Thanks for sharing!