This document provides 15 games and activities to encourage children to clean up their rooms and do chores in a fun way. The games include using a chore chart with points, dressing up in costumes while cleaning, scavenger hunt-style games to find misplaced toys, racing games, and incorporating music. The goal is to make cleaning entertaining for children and keep them motivated with small rewards.

1. 15 GAMES
FOR
CHILDREN
TO PLAY
WHEN CLEANING UP
THEIR ROOMS AND
DOING THEIR CHORES

2. GAME #1
TRACK YOU CHILD’S CHORES
 Have a daily chore chart with all the children’s name on
it.
 Every day check off which child did not have to be told
to do their chore(s) that day.
 At the end of 30 days the child with the most points
gets to choose something.
Examples: what age appropriate movie the family goes to;
or, what fast food restaurant the family goes to; or, what ice
cream the parent buys next time they go to grocery store.
Be creative.
Just little stuff like that where it will encourage the child to
want to be the winner.
If you have more than one winner and can afford it, do
them all just at different times.
Goal is to keep the child encouraged in doing their chores.

3. Game #2
DRESS UP
 Have your children dress up as a maid, butler,
fireman or a princess and go around pointing
out all the messes that the children who live
there made and now they have to clean up
after these messy children.
 Have them really get into character and make
is a lot of fun.

4. Game #3
I spy
 Call out “I spy” a red toy truck that is missing
it’s friend the “green truck”. Where does that
need to go?
 The child will then look around and try to find
the red truck and then pick it up and put it in
the toy box where the green truck is.
 Make a big deal out of the fact that the red
truck found the green truck and how happy
they are that they are back together again.
 You can use this for any type of toys.

5. Game #4
SMELLY HOUSE
 Parent or guardian run around with your hand
plugging your nose complaining of the smell in
the house.
 Then ask the children where do you think that
smell is coming from
 The children will then start looking around and as
they get closer to dirty clothes on the floor the
parent or guardian make a really big deal about
that nasty smell. Pew whew that smells bad.
 Then ask the child what do we need to do with
this stinky dirty shirt or pants and then the child
can pick it up and put it in the dirty clothes
hamper.
 You could even do this with dirty dishes or
garbage that needs to be taken out.

6. Game #5
PUTTING ON A PLAY ON HOW TO CLEAN UP
AFTER OTHERS
 Have your children perform a play for you
about adults that are very messy and how they
are having to pick up after them.
 While they are performing the play they are
actually doing the chores that they are
required to do.

7. Game #6
WHO CAN PICK UP THE FASTEST?
 Kids always love the game where you tell them
“LET’S SEE WHO CAN PICK UP THE FASTEST”
and whoever picks up the fastest wins the
game.
 The kids then race around trying to pick up
the most toys to win.

8. Game #7
FIND THE RIGHT COLOR
 Have the child find all the blue toys and put
them over there in the toy box.
 Have them find all the red toys and put them
over there in the toy box.
 For the older children you could play this
game to teach them how to do laundry too –
for example – put all the white/light clothes in
this basket; the colors in this basket and the
jeans over in this basket.
 This is a good way to teach children how to
separate out their laundry.

9. Game #8
THE BACKWARDS GAME
 Have the child turn their back to the mess and
then bend over through their legs and pick up
the toy and walk backwards over to the toy
box.
 There will probably be a lot of falling down but
it will be fun to play and watch.
 I would video this one for loads of laughs later
on.

10. Game #9
MAKE A SCRATCH-OFF CHORE CHART
o You can make a homemade scratch-off chore
cards created with homemade scratch-off
paint.

11. Game #10
MAKE A CLEAN UP COMMERCIAL
 Take your phone out and tell the children you
are going to make a commercial about
cleaning up. Video tape.
 Next have a list of the items that need to be
cleaned up.
 After they are all done sit down with them and
watch it.
 Don’t be surprised if your children want to
make more commercials and get more
creative in their cleanup process.

12. Game #11
TAKE BEFORE & AFTER PICTURES
 Use your phone to take before when the
rooms are all messy and then after photos
when the rooms are all cleaned up.
 Then have your child compare the two side by
side.

13. Game #12
LAUNDRY RACE
 Blow your whistle and then shout out a color.
 The children sprint off to their rooms and go
and grab their laundry that matches that color
and brings it to the laundry room.
 The winner is the first child to come back with
all their dirty laundry in the requested color.
 This will also help your children learn how to
separate laundry out and be competitive at
the same time.

14. Game #13
CLEANING TREASURE HUNT
 Kind of like your Easter egg hunt.
 Tell the kids you’ve carefully hidden small toys
and treats here and there, and that the only
way they’re going to discover these gems is by
cleaning up the house.
 Make sure you have treats spread around the
house. (i.e. a cute pen or pencil; book marker
– just small things that they would like to find)

15. Game #14
BULL’S-EYE
 With a little painter’s tape, create a little bull’s-
eye on the floor and make it your child’s
mission to sweep all the crumbs into that small
area.
 This is a great way for them to stay focused on
the task at hand.

16. Game #15
MUSICAL CLEAN UP
 Just like musical chairs you could use clothes,
toys, etc. for this game.
 Get a fast song the kids like to dance to and
play it for a minute or two and then stop.
 The person who picks up the most clothes,
toys, etc. could win a little trinket or they get to
pick what you have for dinner the next night
or something special like that.

17. ENCOURAGE
YOUR
CHILDREN TO
HAVE FUN
 Make sure that you are encouraging your children while
they are cleaning and picking up stuff.
 Make it fun.
 Children are not always going to be perfect when they
clean but let them know and feel important that they
participated.
 Change the games you play regularly to make it more
interesting and fun.
 You don’t want them to get bored.
 You can video tape all these games and then later on
go back and watch them.
 NOTE: I would not video tape every time they do
something because it will get boring after a while and
they will not want to do it any more.
There are many more games out there to play – get creative
and find other ways to play while they clean up.