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I'm so excited to be joining with four other awesome bloggers to bring to you the Cleaning With Kids Blog Hop!
Recently I've had several conversations with friends who are frustrated about cleaning their house with their kids. They've mentioned trying to trap their toddlers and babies in a play pen or their room so they can play whilst mum cleans, not putting washing on the line because they're scared of baby playing outside etc. When I shared some ideas on how to include their youngsters in their cleaning they were amazed, as they'd simply never thought that a young child could be involved.
This got me thinking and I reached out to my lovely blogger friends, asking if anyone would be interested in joining me in creating a series of posts on with ideas to help mums and dads get the housework done whilst still engaging with their babies and young children.
The idea here is to be helpful not judging, and maybe even add a few ideas to our own housework arsenal! Just because this is a blog hop about cleaning it doesn't mean we've got it all sorted and that we're super mums-personally I find it really challenging to stay on top of my housework, especially as I will always choose playing with my kids over cleaning, however it is important and some of these ideas let me combine the two!
Today I've chosen to share four, fairly simple ideas about cleaning the kitchen with kids, hopefully you find some new helpful ideas-I'd love if you shared yours with me!
Ah, dishes, the ever reoccurring household chore. I'll admit it, this is one of those necessary household chores I don't enjoy, and if I'm having a bad week I've been known to leave them longer than I should.The best advice my Dad ever gave me regarding doing dishes, is simply to do them as soon as you've finished your meal, sometimes that's hard with the kids and bedtime but honestly it is the best policy. So how do I do my dishes and involve my kids? It depends, but generally I do one of two things. I either fill the second sink up with a little warm water and have Bubbles stand on a chair next to me and let her help me by rinsing the plastics and putting them in the drying rack, if I don't have many plastics I often take them out of the drying rack and let her rinse them again. If I'm having a day where I'd prefer a little space I set Bubbles up with a container of warm, soapy water and her plastic tea set and drying rack. I keep Squiggles happy by simply giving her some soapy bubbles to play with in her high chair, occasionally I'll also give her a sponge and plastic plate to play with too.
Believe it or not, my girls think this is the best game in the world and Bubbles quite often asks to play "Wash Cupboards". To invite the girls to play AND help me clean the kitchen in the process, I simply place two shallow dishes full of warm soapy water in front of the cupboards, along with a couple of sponges. As the girls 'play', I sit with them and join in, allowing us to have some great quality time whilst the girls enjoy some good, old-fashioned, sensory fun AND I clean.
Sweeping the floor
No fancy ideas here, I simply give my girls a dustpan and brush and let them sweep their area of the kitchen whilst I sweep mine and then we swap! It might not sound like much fun, but the girls love being able to help me, and quite often will go and 'play' sweep the kitchen in their own free time.
If you're looking for something a little more exciting to do than just playing with warm, soapy water you could invite your kids to paint your cupboards. This is another favourite 'game' of Bubbles and Squiggles. I simply mix up a weak paste of bicarb and water, add a couple of drops of food dye and let them paint the cupboard doors and even the floor (just a note: bicarb paint is not good for little tummies so if you've got littlies who like to taste everything you might want to skip this!). When they've finished creating their master pieces, we spray them with vinegar and watch them fizz! Then I just mop the floor with vinegar and wipe the cupboards down and they're sparkling clean! Maximum fun and maximum clean, it's a win win!
Now you've heard what works for my family and I, why not hop on over to these fabulous blogs and see how they tackle the challenge of cleaning house with kids:
Please always supervise your infant/child at play. Please stay within arms reach and never leave infants/children unattended. You know you're infant/child best, use your own judgement-considering your infant/child's temperament, habits, behaviour and development before you play with a new play medium.
Your kids look like great helpers! It's always nice when kids love doing chores :) :) ...makes life easier for us parents, especially once they can complete the cleaning relatively unassisted.
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