It’s time for the annual big spring clean but with everyone cooped up at home this year it’s a little harder to get things done. Why not utilise the extra hands and any additional free time your family members may have right now and get them all involved in the tidying. This article is all about how to get the children involved in the cleaning process with some fun suggestions to keep them motivated. 

1. Start small. This is true about spring cleaning in general. Don’t try and sort through all your house in one day. It’s unnecessarily stressful and can make cleaning feel overwhelming and more of a chore.It’s likely that some jobs will need doing before others, for example tidying up the kids’ toys before you can hoover the carpets. Make a list of manageable tasks and divide them out between the family. 
2. Praise and reward. Keep positive and show gratitude for the children helping out. After each task reward them with some time to relax or do something they enjoy. Perhaps sorting through all their toys could be rewarded with some garden activities or screen time. This break for them gives you some time to get some other tasks done.
3. Give everything a home. Often we accumulate too much clutter and this is never truer when it comes to children’s toys. Children get lots of toys over the years and you get to the stage where you have more toys than storage. Sort through toys that don’t get played with and then organise toys they do use into new clearly identified homes so children know where they need to put them back. Sorting through old toys can be fun for the children as they often rediscover toys they haven’t played with in a while but organising them together ensures they can tidy away properly when asked.
4. Discuss the importance of passing used toys onto charities and people in need. You are teaching your children to give and it makes them more invested in sorting through their toys.
5. Make it fun. Play games to motivate the children. Whether that’s having a dance party to your favourite songs while they tidy, or set a timer and watch them race against the clock to do certain tasks. You can note down their speeds and see if they can beat it as they repeat the tasks in future. You could also create a rewards chart for them doing certain activities and when they’ve reached so many points they can choose a TV show to watch, have some chocolate or choose what you cook for dinner. Simple wins to ignite their interest. 
6. Make children their own cleaning caddy with safe products they can use. This will be age dependent but simple tasks like dusting can be done by everyone. 
7. Work together. Get them involved in your tasks by giving them little ways they can help.Work in the same room also so the children feel part of the team. 
8. Spend time showing the child how to clean properly. 
9. Make sure the activity is age dependent. Small activities for toddlers can include wiping surfaces and watering the plants. 
10. Focus on the positives. If they don’t do jobs properly or to the standard you’d like, show appreciation for what they’ve done and show them how they can do it better. Telling them they’ve done it wrong will deter them.