Cleaning Games

In every job to be done there is an element of fun!

Here are some of the cleaning "games" we play at our house to help get everyone moving in the right direction.

*The Secret Cookie Game-This a great one to play when you have a lot of "little" company and it is time for them to go home. Mom selects a secret thing. All the kids pick up something and show it to mom. Mom either replies "No, that's not it, put it up" or "Yes, you found the secret toy, here is a cookie." Repeat until everything is picked up or you are out of cookies.

*Timer Switch-We set the timer for a certain amount of time. When the timer goes off the kids draw papers to see who they are now cleaning with (Mom or Dad) and one person in each group draws a second paper to see which room they are cleaning.

*Timer Break-I do this game if Dad is not able to help us clean. I can usually only "make" two kids work well. We set the timer for 15 minutes. When the timer goes off the best cleaner gets a break for the next 15 minutes. Sometimes 2 or even 3 kids will get a break. Don't forget to take a break for yourself once in a while so you don't burn out. This works well for me for an hour or sometimes two tops. But because the kids are getting breaks they keep pretty fresh and work hard to try and earn another break.

*Hidden Objects-I will hide objects (or money) in the room. The kids should find the money while they are cleaning. If they are cleaning, they get to keep it, if not, they have to leave it in the hiding place.

*Timed Cleaning-Sometimes we will guess how long it will take us to clean a room. If we finish early we get a break for the remaining time. If it take longer we are either done when the timer goes off or we guess again (depends on if company is coming :))

*Room Rescues-(From Flylady) Set the timer and once the timer goes off the room is good enough. The first time I did this it really threw the kids for a loop. They were used to having the room "mom perfect" before we were done.

*Room Rescue with Occupations-Recently we added an "occupation" with a room rescue. Each kid was given an "occupation" and kept it as we went room to room. So we had a duster, picker-upper, floors, runner, etc.