Tackling the children’s bedroom can sometimes seem like an enormous job! Clothes everywhere, toys littering the carpet, bedsheets hanging on the ends of the bed and the most frustrating element: toys not together in their sets. Like the Lego with the Lego! Here are some of my top cleaning tips for dealing with this and making their rooms a happy place:
1. Buy some toy boxes / storage boxes
A toy box can be a great place to throw all of the toys into, if you are in a rush, or you could compartmentalise your toy box and make it a neat place to store the toys. Get smaller storage boxes to organise the inside of the larger toy box. It sounds crazy, but it will be great for your kids to get out all the toys in their boxes and then empty them all on the floor, then move onto the next one – that’s what mine do anyway.
2. Consider self storage to cycle the toys
This might sound a little drastic, but if you are stuck for loft/garage space, then it is a perfect solution – self storage allows you to tidy away some of the toys for a longer period of time. Allowing you to swap the toys in cycles. The children have so many toys in their room and playroom, they cannot play with them all, all of the time. Ever since they were young I separate the toys out and rotate them in cycles. The children think they are getting new toys every few months, they think it’s great. I never swap out their favourite toys though, I make sure they are always in the house.
3. Make use of the wall space
Shelving units and shelving are a great way to store books, DVDs, their favourite Lego creation or the Barbie style Disney dolls that are just for staring at. Not to be played with – you know the ones, the ones that Mummy loves more than daughter! You can buy all kinds of fab storage for wall space these days, you could get creative with Mr No Nails too.
4. Do a bit at a time
This might sound obvious, but instead of looking at the great mess, wanting to cry and dealing with it later, tackle it bit by bit. Isla will get all of her toys out when she wakes up at 5am, she gets bored of waiting for everyone else to wake up. So she will have her books, dolls, Sylvanian Families and Tsum Tsum covering the carpet. Noah has his Lego creations on the side, pieces of Lego on the floor around his bed and more often than not his Hot Wheels cars everywhere too. Whilst they are in the bath, I might tackle Isla’s toys. Whilst they are getting ready for bed, I will finish off Noah’s toys. When I get a good hour, I tend to sit and sort through their toys and make sure Lego is with the Lego for example!
5. Add cleaning tasks to a chore chart
This is my favourite tip and is seemingly working quite well for us at the moment, encouraging the children to get involved by using a sticker chart where they can earn treats. Making the bed is one of our daily chores to gain a star and tidying the toys up as we go. Putting toys away before getting the next toy out is something I am going to be working on over the next few weeks.
6. Bonus tip – Deep cleaning your kids toys
Whether you’re playing inside or outside, kids toys can get dirty in a hurry. With hands and mouths touching toys, floors, other children, pets, and more, germs, viruses, and bacteria can easily spread. It’s a good idea to periodically clean all of your kids toys, but especially the toys that get the most use. Cleaning kids toys with soap and water is appropriate for most toys, though water and vinegar can be handy as well, since the vinegar is a natural disinfectant and non-toxic. Be careful using more toxic chemical cleaners like (bleach).
I hope you like the tips, if you have any other handy tips then please comment below I would love to hear them…
