Kids Room Clean

My kids are 6,5 and 3 and they each are in charge of cleaning, usually before dinner it has to be clean.
The older 2 are boys and they are SO good at it and do it without being told (they get that from their Daddy). My daughter is a different story. I have LOTS of labeled storage bucket and containers and it is so easy for her! She knows where they go and doesn't whine about it AS MUCH since we got all the labeled containers! I usually declutter their rooms once a month, but they keep it pretty clean all the other days. Labeled storage and knowing where it goes is the key, I believe!
Good Luck!

If you want them to clean up their toys before moving to the next activity (or even once a night for that matter) you have to lead by example at this age.
Unless you supervise them closely it's going to be hard to teach them when it's time to put things away, but I you cannot do that just set your alarm for every 30 minutes to check in on them and then go and instruct them to put their things away.
For the three year old it definitely needs to be in very defined tasks: if you say "clean up your room" she won't know where to start or end. Give specific instructions like "put all the dolls in the green box".
Good habits take a while to establish, they may need several weeks or months to make it a habit... but it's very much worth working on.

How about trying: If they don't put it away, then you take it away. It will be harder on you for the day or so, but better in the long run for all. Good Luck.

Take away half of it. They'll never miss it.

Any broken toys go into the garbage.

Have a clean up time before bedtime.

I can't put away when I think of something else to do. I dont understand how people can do that. So I move from one thing to another then at night or on the weekends things get put back.
We always have some project, puzzle, Monopoly game, Lego project, something is always going on.

Make them clean it each night while you make supper. Tell them they can eat once their toys are picked up. I also would take half the toys away. If there is to much for them to pick up, there is just to much.

Make it a game. Say, "Alright, it's time to pick up the dolls. Now WHERE could those babies be? They need to go in their beds. Who can help me find all the babies?" Or "Wow, the laundry escaped! Help, I need to put the socks back in their drawer! Look, I found a blue one! Can anybody find another blue one to be his friend?"

With my DD certain things have rules. She cannot move on if she hasn't put away the play dough. I help her color by color. She is 3. We practice colors that way and it keeps her going vs giving up after the first tub of color.

We also sing the clean up song and play the clean up game.

I have the exact same problem! And I have no answer! I have a 3 and 5 yr old too!! and they have a large playroom that they do the same thing in- it drives me crazy!!

In order to get them to clean up I have to sit in the room directing that they pick up each piece individually- it's as if they don't see the massive amounts of toys on the floor unless I specifically point them out.

And we are very organized so every toy has a home and the kids know where to put them, they just don't want to.
Hopefully we'll both get some answers

get everything easily and simply organized, and then spend some time "helping" them clean up for several days. my kids clean up two to three times a day - there are 3 of them(ages 2, 5, and 8) - so there are 3 bedrooms, a playroom, and a media room. it's been years since i cleaned up a toy... the organization is redone by me about once a year(to clear out and make room for new things every december). but, we clean up before lunch/naptime, then again before bed. it's a habit, it's ingrained as part of their routine, and it goes very quickly - even the 2 year old knows where everything goes. don't give them the OPTION to clean - make them do it, it'll take a bit for them to get used to it, but it CAN be done :)

I told my daughter early on that if something is left in the floor, she obviously doesn't want it, and it will be donated. I did give warnings, but it only took one time picking up the toys and putting in the Goodwill bag for her to get the picture. Now at 7, I just have to reminder when she moves to the next thing that she needs to make sure she cleaned up the last stuff first.

Good luck I'm still trying to get my 10 year old to do that. LOl when you work full time its amazing what gives first.

Play with one thing, put it away before something else gets taken out.

Also, after homework, the room gets clean before playtime!

My girls have always been pretty good about their room... no, I take that back, my eldest daughter (almost 8) has always been really good... but she has to FORCE her little sister (6) to help.

I also threaten to throw out whatever's not put away ;)

Sometimes kids don't know where to start when there are so many toys pulled out. They get overwhelmed easily, especially the younger ones. First of all, explain to them that from now on they are going to have to clean up their toys before they move on to something else. Whatever does not get picked up gets put away for a few days or whatever timeframe you decide on. (I tell my daughter that whatever she doesn't pick up I get to put away for a week.) You can give them a choice so they feel like they have some say - "Would you like to pick up the blue blocks or the red blocks first?" and "Would you like to pick up the Barbies or the Polly Pockets first?" You can also play some fun/fast music and challenge them to get everything put away before the song ends. Also, put labels and pictures on the bins to let them know what is supposed to go in each bin.

Throw the pieces out. Don't be quick to replace them. When you care for your things you treat them like they are important to you by putting them up where they belong. It should be their responsibility to pick up after themselves. Even if that means you must stop them from playing 1/2 hour early to clean up and supervise their cleaning by letting them know what you expect. After about a week of learning how to clean up the following week you try to get them started on praising them for doing it right and helping them get even better.

I think that most kids (as do most men!) have tunnel vision.... But mommy, see that 1 square foot on the floor that is clean? That means my room is clean! Hmmm.... NOT! What helps my boys is to have them push everything into one pile. Then I tell one of them to pull out all the dirty clothes, one to pull out all the trash, one to pull out all the shoes. Mine just can't be told "go clean your room". I have to tell them to pick up one like item at a time (all the train tracks/clothes/shoes etc). They seem to focus better that way. Also, I tried this tactic with everything scattered around and it worked better for my boys if I made them put it all in a pile first. Then they only had to focus on the pile. My oldest boy is 7 (almost 8) now and he is getting better at cleaning up with general direction and not having to put it all in a pile, but if the job seems overwhelming to him then it's better to start with everything in a pile. Also, I try to have them clean up every other day or so. I'm not as great as some moms who can make their kids do it every day or twice a day but... everyone is different :)
Good luck!
Jen
Mom of 3 boys ages 7,5, and 3