Cleaning with Kids in Quarantine
You can only get so creative with thinking of fun and innovative ways to keep your kids occupied while #stayinghome, but we’re here to help! Stop avoiding those pesky chores and common household duties by getting your kids involved in incorporating one or two of these games into your daily routine. These activities can help develop or enhance a variety of pertinent language skills, including following directions, turn-taking skills, spatial concepts, and sequencing. So research shows, skills develop faster when learned through play.
Laundry Toss
Take turns at tossing clothing items in the laundry basket/washer to target spatial concepts. Narrate what happens if player misses, maybe by saying “Oh no I missed! The sock went behind the basket!” or “next to the washer!”
Race-to-make-your-bed
Encourage your kids to take turns engaging in a sequencing task to make their beds!
For example- “First fix your blanket. Next, fix your pillows. Last, put your stuffed bunny on top! He wants to take a nap.”
Time them and see who does it fastest!
Freeze Dust
Provide each child with a dusting rag and play an upbeat song while they dance and dust the furniture. Instruct them FREEZE when the song stops! This activity will get them up and moving, following directions, and leaves you with a dust-free environment.
Old Fashioned Reward System
Use printable money: https://itsybitsyfun.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/realistic-play-money-1114.pdf
(ex: Putting dishes away = 3 tokens/$20, folding laundry = 2 tokens/$10, sweeping = 1 token/$5)
Whoever possesses the most money or tokens at the end of the day gets to pick a movie/dinner/dessert/game.
Happy quarantine cleaning!
