The playroom serves many purposes for many families. It is a place to keep all the toys in so they don’t clutter up other rooms as well as a place to encourage creative play in an open space designed just for that.
Children can spend hours upon hours playing in the playroom, however, it can become quite a mess very quickly. If you have company coming or you just want to get it picked up in a hurry, here are some tips on how to speed cleaning your playroom that are sure to help!
How to Speed Clean your Playroom Fast
Make it easy with the right supplies
Baskets make it easy to declutter and put like-items together and get things picked up quickly. Use laundry baskets to place larger, like-items together, such as stuffed animals, play trucks, and large craft supplies.
Toy box organizers can help drastically as well. They help the children learn how to sort by putting smaller like items together and you can usually find them on Craigslist for around $25.
Another idea is using storage totes. Since storage totes have lids on them, it makes it very easy to put things away in the storage totes, put a lid on it, and you don’t have to look at the mess! You can get these at your local home improvement store or Kmart the cheapest. On sale, they run about $3.99, so be sure to stock up when you see them. Regular pricing is usually around $7 ish for 18 gallon.
If you have a lot of random things that still don’t really have a home in your child’s play room, a bin with a lid is a perfect place for them until you can come back and sort them later when you are not in such a hurry.
10 drawer mobile organizers can really help you organize crafts. Things like artwork, paper, craft supplies, pens/pencils, paints, chalk, all of that and more can be stored in your drawer organizer. The lowest price I’ve seen these on sale is about $40 at ShopKo, so if you find it for less than that, purchase right away! Sometimes you can get them on Craigslist, but they are usually at least $30-$40 used.
Everything needs a place to live
When my husband was home, he was forever losing his stuff. His keys, his wallet, paperwork, anything and everything was always lost. Yet I, on the other hand, very rarely lose anything. The difference between us in that area is that everything I use has a place to live. The same applies to your playroom.
It doesn’t really matter how much or how little you have, as long as everything you own has it’s own place to live, you will be okay. If your playroom has paints, they need to always be put back and stored in the same place. If it’s a drawer, put them back in the drawer. If you have stuffed animals and keep them in a storage tote, put them back in the storage tote.
Everything has it’s own spot and it’s put back and stored in the same spot all the time. I never lose my keys because the second I walk through the door, I put them on the hook by my door. It’s a habit. I never lose my phone, because I keep it in the same 2 spots in my home and when I’m out and about, it’s in my purse in the same spot it always is.
Keeping things in the same spot and giving them a home, so to speak, will not only help you be organized, but it will help keep your room clean because there’s no last minute rush to FIND a place to throw something quickly. You know where it goes already.
When you’re trying to teach kids to put things back in their designated place, use a label maker and label drawers, totes, and bins. This will help the child identify where things should go.
Sing a song
If you are having your kids help you clean up their playroom, pull a Mary Poppins and sing a song. You can make up songs, such as the “cleanup song” to get them to help quickly. You could also make a game or a race out of it. Kids love to race to see who can do things the fastest, even if its a chore! Whoever puts up all the paints first wins the game. Whoever cleans the most in the next 5 minutes wins the game. Whoever picks up the most yellow toys wins the games.
There are plenty of games you can make up and songs to be sung, that is for sure.
Toss it
Reduce toys by throwing away or donating anything you come across that is not loved anymore or is broken. This is more of a deep cleaning tip, but at the same time, toy minimalism will make your cleaning quicker in the long run. If you have less clutter, it will take you less time to straighten up.
My biggest tip is that you throw away or donate things when your children ARE NOT around. I guarantee you they will beg, plead, and do anything in their power to make you not get rid of a toy they’ve never played with, you give in and two days later, it’ll never be played with again. If you want to involve your kids, give them choices. “You can keep this or that, but not both. Which one do you want to keep.” This helps them feel like they have a say in the matter, but you’re also weeding out things that are not played with.
Sometimes, they can pull the card of waiting. They need 20 minutes to decide. What I like to do in such cases is give them a time limit. I’ll start counting down…5, 4, 3, 2, 1. If they don’t make a decision by time I get to 0, both items go. You can give them as much time as you want before you start counting down, but the point is to not let them make you forget. You go off and do something else and by time you come back, you forget half of what you were trying to get rid of. It’s not productive and they’ve just played you.
Kids are sneaky and manipulative. The Bible says that we are all born into sin. Please do not think that your little angel is not capable of playing you. They are far more capable than we give them credit. Be firm and decisive.
There is a balance between respecting their stuff, and letting their stuff overrun YOUR house. In my home, toys are NOT allowed in the living room. I have a coffee table with a drawer in it. Inside the drawer is Lego’s and that’s the only place in the house, our Lego’s are kept, and that’s the only toy that is allowed in the living room.
They want to play Lego’s, they must play them in the living room and since it’s there in the living room, before they move on to anything else, they must be put back. It’s easy enough to toss the Lego’s in the drawer when they are done. Helping them clean up fast in something like a drawer works wonderfully for us.
Use a broom and dustpan to save time
If you have hardwood or laminate floors in your playroom, a broom can come in handy when it comes to cleaning a playroom quickly. You can get all the little tiny toys most kinds have and sweep them into one pile. This cuts your time in half and saves your back from having to bend over to pick every little doll shoe or car up by hand. If you have carpet, use the edge of the dustpan to collect things like cars into a pile quickly.
Wipe down surfaces
When you have everything picked up, do a quick wipe-down of surfaces. Pay special attention to places little sticky fingers may have been such as on light switches, door frames, and around door handles. This only take a couple of minutes and really helps the room in overall appearance as well as being good for disinfecting.
I do NOT use disinfectant wipes. These break down our immune system. Instead use a cleaning spray like On Guard and paper towel or a rag. Click here to get that recipe.
Finish by vacuuming
Kid’s rooms and play rooms are notorious for having all sorts of debris on the floor from various art projects and general tracking in of dirt. It is vital that you vacuum the playroom when you are trying to do a quick clean on it as it will finish the room off and even a somewhat still messy playroom can look way better with a quick vacuum. Think of it like making the bed as far as finishing a room off.
One thing to keep in mind is that you might want to consider having a separate vacuum or sweeper for the playroom. Since there are a lot of toys, things like a small piece of plastic or rubber band can easily clog and kill your good vacuum. I keep a spare junky brand vacuum for this purpose. If the toys kill my vacuum, it’s okay. It’s not my good one! You can get a sweeper for about $25 either on Amazon or Big Lots. Here’s the one I have and use.
This whole process should only take you about 15 minutes. It will take you less if your children are helping.
