Teaching Kids to Clean: Fun and Safe Eco-Friendly Cleaning Activities

Getting kids involved in household cleaning jobs is a great way to teach them responsibility. Of course, doing this in a safe and effective manner is important because you probably don’t want to trust your kids with aerosol sprays and bleach!

Eco-friendly cleaning products are a great way to do this. In this post, we’ll look at some of the best products to use and how to get your kids involved in safe cleaning activities.

Fun and Safe Eco-Friendly Cleaning Activities for Kids

1. Sorting Out Recycling

Generally speaking, recycling is a perfectly acceptable activity for kids. Other than potentially sharp edges on cans, there’s not much that can go wrong here. You can teach kids to rinse and sort types of recycling, take the bins out, and so on.

As for what age you start kids on recycling, that’s up to you. Around 8-10 is probably the minimum because they’ll need to understand what goes where and why.

2. Wiping Surfaces

Wiping down surfaces is another easy activity for kids. Give them a spray bottle of white vinegar, which is non-toxic and, within reason, safe to be ingested. It’s a good disinfectant product, so your surfaces will actually be cleaned!

Younger kids could do this with some supervision, as it’s a pretty easy job of spraying and wiping. Make sure they focus on kitchens and possibly some areas of the bathroom. Keep them away from polished wood, as the vinegar could strip the finish.

3. Organising Toys

Not much can go wrong with organising toys. Set up some tubs for different types of toys in different rooms, show them what goes where, and leave them to it. Toddlers can do toy tidying, and it’s a good basis for teaching them further cleaning jobs. Once they’ve got the hang of toys, you can move them on to clothes.

4. Dusting

Kids can tackle dusting around the home, although you might need to do a bit of prep first. Depending on how old they are, you might want to move fragile ornaments out of the way, or just have them focus on easy-to-reach and safe surfaces. Give them a microfibre cloth and let them run loose!

Dusting is suitable for kids of pretty much any age. Provided the surface is clear of clutter, there’s no reason why a toddler couldn’t help out. To be as safe as possible, don’t give them furniture polish – a slightly damp cloth will be just fine.

5. Sorting the Dishwasher

Loading and unloading the dishwasher is a good cleaning activity to teach kids, although you’ll need to adjust their level of responsibility to their age. For example, younger kids should be able to unload the dishwasher, even if they don’t put things away.

Older kids can be trusted to load the dishwasher and turn it on, as long as you’ve shown them the proper process. Make sure you explain soaking and pre-rinsing dishes, and consider using eco-friendly dishwasher tablets just to be on the safe side.

6. Hoovering

There’s not much that needs to be said about hoovering. While you won’t be able to get toddlers involved, slightly older kids can help if you have a small or hand vacuum cleaner. Older kids should have no problem wielding a hoover around the house. Again, make sure you show them a good technique and check they’re cleaning to your standards.

7. Watering Plants

While not necessarily a cleaning service, watering plants is a great way to teach children care and responsibility. Provided you have a regular watering schedule for your plants, you can absolutely teach kids how to do this job.

Use your best judgement to decide when you can start them on this. Young kids might be a bit heavy-handed with the watering can, which could be damaging to your plants. You can get around this by only giving them enough water for each plant at a time, so just be mindful about what will work best for them.

Final Thoughts

Teaching kids to clean is just as much about the why as the how. This is why jobs like hoovering, recycling, and surface wiping are great starting points for children of almost any age. They teach the importance of organisation and the difference between a tidy and untidy home.

Of course, motivating them to clean is another matter entirely! Whether through rewards or simply the desire to be involved, you should be able to find a way to get them to help.