There are plenty of ways to motivate your kids do chores. Turning everyday boring activities into fun games will make them more pleasant for your kids. For this reason I have come up with some Fun Chore Game Ideas to get your kids cleaning and have fun!

After identifying what chores are appropriate for them and buying all supplies you need, you can show your kids how cleaning and tidying their things can be more than just a chore, but fun time too!

Chore Game Ideas

1. Identify appropriate chores for your kids and prepare supplies according to their age

• Write the chores on different sheets of paper for each child.
• Buy costumes and all kinds of accessories – remember that you will have your kids play roles of maid, butlers and etc.
• Also, you could buy suitable clothes, accessories and masks for your kids to feel like the person they pretend to be
• For girls you can use Cinderella for example, or Batman for boys. He could be the super cleaning super hero!
• After shopping, store what you bought in separate baskets for each kid. I like this inexpensive but functional drawer set.

2. Have your kids play the role of maids and different fairy tale heroes

• Move the aprons, bow ties, caps and other things, part of the costumes in one place to be easy to find in their rooms and show them to the kids.
• Then, ask them to wear the costumes you bought.
• While they have fun playing roles, your kids can do a lot of work tidying their rooms and cleaning them.
• Besides learning to do household chores by playing roles, this also encourages creativity in their everyday play.

3. Create a cleaning / tidying game

• The easiest way to make cleaning and tidying a game is by creating a competition between your kids.
• Set a certain time for the competition game and check how many things each kid can pick from the floor in their room, for example.
• Compare the results by counting the items everyone had gathered in their basket or other container.
• You can motivate them better by giving a prize for the winner.

Variation #1

• Use an alarm to count the time.
• Assign each kid a color for the items he/she should pick from the playroom or their bedrooms.
• Tell them to gather as many blue, yellow, etc, things as they can from the floor. In the end check the results and award the winners.
• This is a great way to tidy a messy room fast and with help from your kids.

Bonus: You can use the race competition for cleaning too!

Variation #2

• Pretend to film cleaning commercials and your kids are playing the main roles.
• Make as many ‘action shots’ as necessary to get their rooms clean.
• The kids will be eager to participate and show their abilities ‘behind camera’.

Note: You may want to buy the necessary equipment for fake filming such as a toy camera for little ones. Or consider using an old digital camera or iPod/iPhone where they can actually film and see their results!

To encourage your kids take part in doing chores, consider negotiating a reward with them in a advance.  Knowing what they play for will help motivate your kids to do the cleaning and tidying chores. Depending on their age choose appropriate tasks and praise them for how well they have done,  even if it isn’t completely perfect. Praising your kids’ work will help them feel good about what they have accomplished, thus being encourage to happily participate again the next time! Criticizing, on the other hand, will have a negative effective by making your children feel frustrated, unaccomplished, and unwilling to do the task. Use proper motivation to achieve best results!

Author Bio: Amber Cross owns SuperCleaners Kilburn, based in London. In her free time, she enjoys writing about homemade cleaning detergents, DIY projects and home organizing.

*top photo credit to https://www.flickr.com/photos/donnieray/16686547995/

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