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5 Clean Up Games for Kids

5 Clean Up Games for Kids

How many kids enjoy cleaning up their toys? Not many. It can be overwhelming especially for younger children. Try these 5 clean up games for kids and make clean up time more fun.

My kids’ toys are organized into bins and each toy has a home. You’d think this would make it easy for them to put everything away. But no. When they pull out a pile of LEGO bricks, a bin of Magformers, and a handful of stuffed animals for a play session, their area can get messy quite fast.

It may not really be that big of a mess. They only have 3 types of toys out which can easily be returned to their respective homes. However, to some children, it’s just a lot to take in. Where do we start? It’s going to take foreeeever to clean this up.

This is where turning clean up into a game helps out. You organize the clean up with a game and get everything cleaned up without too much whining and complaining (hopefully).

The disadvantage of clean up games is that you have to micromanage the cleaning. It may be faster to just do it yourself, but that’s not the point. Sometimes I can be cleaning up another area of the house while managing their clean up game as well.

Clean Up Game #1: Make It a Race

This game works for kids who like competition and aren’t that overwhelmed by the mess. Start by challenging your kids to race to pick up the toys. Then, say: Ready. Set. Go pick up that toy and bring it over to this bin. Run fast. Hurry. Then, name another toy and continue to have them race it to its home.

You could also set a timer and challenge your child to pick up a set number of toys in that time. How many toys can you pick up in a minute? Ready. Set. Go. Or: Can you pick up 10 toys in 30 seconds? Ready. Set. Go.

Clean Up Game #2: Go on a Scavenger Hunt for Toys

Turn clean up time into a scavenger hunt. Let’s play a game. Okay. Do you want to go on a scavenger hunt for train tracks? Yeah!!! Okay. Go find 3 straight tracks and bring them to this box. My child runs and finds them. Great, now find 2 curved tracks. (Yes, I throw a little counting practice in there, too.)

Scavenger hunt clean up games can work when you’re not in the room. Take a survey of the toys that need to be picked up. Head off to whatever you need to take care of. Call out an item for your child to find and put away. (Don’t like yelling across the house? Use a set of walkie talkies.) You can be as generic or specific as you want. I usually start with colors. Find something that is pink. Or: Pick up all of the green toys.

You could also be specific. Find 5 cars. Put away 2 stuffed animals. Use the scavenger hunt to work on shapes as well. Find 3 square toys. (I was thinking of the Magformers. My toddler saw a square pillow, too.)

Clean Up Game #3: Use Other Toys to Help Clean Up

For some reason, my kids think it’s extra fun to use dump trucks, shovels, or ramps to help clean up their messes. This works especially well with blocks or LEGO bricks. Use the truck or shovel to scoop up the toys and carry them to their home. Or put a ramp above the bin and let the toys slide down the ramp into the bin. Instead of a ramp, a large cardboard tube works, too.

Clean Up Game #4: Play the Do 3 Things Game

Mix cleaning up into another game. I call it the Do 3 Things Listening Game. It’s super sneaky because you get them moving all around doing different actions and then every once in a while sneak in a little clean up.

Clean Up Game #5: Code Your Way to Clean Up

Play a Robot Clean Up Game to make cleaning up the entire goal of the game. It’s a simple following directions game except you have to program the robot up front. Write the code for the robot and send it off to clean up. This game is a fun way to introduce kids to coding. It works best when the toys are spread out, but you can make it work with any mess really.

 

 

source: inspirationlaboratories

20 Food Hacks We’ve Tried and Loved

20 Food Hacks We’ve Tried and Loved

Dust in cereal is actually quite easy to get rid of, and so are flies that fly around your food during the summer months. Finding unusual yet helpful tools in ordinary things is always a good idea, especially when it comes to handling certain products so that they keep bringing you tasty joy for longer. These hacks are cheap, uncomplicated, mess-free, and fun!

1. Always have a perfectly cool drink on hand during hot seasons.

 

20 Food Hacks We’ve Tried and Loved

 

Fill 1/4 of a bottle with water so when it’s put on its side, the water stays just below the bottle’s neck. Then put the bottles in a freezer. When you need a cold drink, just take one of the bottles out, fill it up with anything you like, and enjoy a perfectly chilled drink.

2. Prevent tomatoes from rotting quickly by putting them upside down.

20 Food Hacks We’ve Tried and Loved

Tomatoes’ “shoulders” are sturdier while their bottoms are more delicate. Pressure from a table or plate will make them rot faster which is why it’s best to flip them upside down.

3. Remove cherry seeds with a funnel.

To enjoy your cherries without pits, use a funnel. Simply put cherries on top of the piece of fruit, push down, and voilà — your treat is ready!

4. Cook your marshmallows over a toaster.

20 Food Hacks We’ve Tried and Loved

20 Food Hacks We’ve Tried and Loved

6. Use a colander to prepare the remaining bits of cereal from a box/bag.

20 Food Hacks We’ve Tried and Loved

20 Food Hacks We’ve Tried and Loved

 Many blender attachments will fit on mason jars.

8. If you don’t have a cookie rack, you can use skewers instead.

9. Try a pizza cutter if you need to mince ingredients for scrambled eggs.

10. Keep the bands on the asparagus in place so they don’t roll all over the place while you cut the ends off.

11. Keep flies out of your wine while sitting outside.

20 Food Hacks We’ve Tried and Loved

12. Bake 2 pizzas at once in 1 pizza-sized oven.

13. If you have a pack of bagels, use the hole in the bagel to stuff the open end of the packaging in. This way, they stay fresh!

20 Food Hacks We’ve Tried and Loved

 14. A hairdryer will help you to remove excess moisture from a chicken to make it super crispy.

 

 

 

source: brightside

Pool Noodle Hockey for Kids

During the Summer Olympics there are mens and womens field hockey teams. They play with a stick that has a shepherd's crook on it and hit a small ball.  

For our pool noodle hockey game I created goals and sticks using pool noodles. Scroll down for more details.

MATERIALS NEEDED FOR POOL NOODLE HOCKEY:

  • fat pool noodle
  • knife
  • two thin long pool noodles
  • large ball
  • 4 lawn stakes

HOW TO SET UP FOR POOL NOODLE HOCKEY:

Set up is super easy! Start by putting two yard stakes in the ground about 2ft away from one another. Put them in the ground deep enough to stay but leave them high enough out of the ground that several inches are visible.
Arch one pool noodle from one yard stake to the other and slip the yard stakes into the centers of the pool noodle ends. The pool noodle should make an arch and stay pretty secure, unless it is super windy. Repeat with another pool noodle maybe 10-15 ft away (depending on how large of a field you want).
Next, cut the fat pool noodle in half lengthwise. The cut side of the pool noodle is a bit easier to hold on to and it is easier to hit balls with the fat pool noodle pieces. 
Now you are ready to play!

HOW TO PLAY POOL NOODLE HOCKEY:

We made small teams of one and worked hard to get the ball in the other goal before it was stolen! Using the pool noodle half we hit the large ball again and again. My son was so proud of himself once he figured out how to "dribble" the ball up the field using his pool noodle. 

It is fun to get the entire body into pool noodle hockey, which was why we set some ground rules to begin with. We encouraged kids to keep their sticks on the ground or close to it when they were hitting the ball (no high sticking) and to keep their bodies to themselves (no fouls)!

This activity is great for working on hand-eye coordination, aiming, swinging, and working together.

source: toddlerapproved