How to Build a Cleaning Kit for Your Child

Building good cleaning habits can be a difficult thing, but if you have a little one at home you can encourage them to love cleaning from an early age. Once they’re an adult, they’ll thank you! So many of us don’t enjoy cleaning but maybe that’s because we think about being forced to do our chores as a kid. Maid to Shine can guide you through building your kiddo their first cleaning kit so they can get into the fun habit of cleaning. 

A cleaning kit will teach your kid good organizational skills. If you want to motivate them to take care of their kit give them some say in what goes into it. Let them pick out the color of their spray bottle and rags. This kit isn’t necessarily intended to effectively clean, it’s just a great way to make cleaning exciting and you can start showing your child how to scrub and wipe things properly. If your kid is old enough to be trusted with cleaning products we 100% recommend using all-natural cleaning agents to keep your child safe. 

You can probably find most of the stuff you need for your kit at Dollar Tree or a similar store, so don’t feel any need to get fancy. Here is what you’ll want to make your Junior Cleaning Kit:

• A bucket or container that can handle getting wet (just in case a moist sponge goes back in you don’t want to use something like wicker)
• Sponge
• Scrubber (think a dish brush, etc.)
• Spray bottle (you can leave this empty or put water in here)
• Cotton rags
• Cleaning gloves and apron (optional but you it’s fun to dress the part) 
• Duster

As you start to assemble your kit go over what each item can be used for with your little one. This is a great time to teach them some safety lessons about cleaning products, even if they’re just using water right now. Go over why you should never consume or spray cleaning agents onto your body. 

Show them how to use the sponge and scrubber. Teach them to not just go in a circle while using their rags but to pull any mess towards the ground. Use this same method with the duster, you don’t want to flick when you dust, you always want to pull. Be sure that they understand you should dust things first so you don’t spray the dust with cleaner and make a goopy mess. This might take them some time to learn so just remember: this should be fun! They can “clean” alongside you, mom or dad, when it’s time to pick up. Practice makes perfect! 

Now with their Junior Cleaning Kit all together, finish it off with a fun label that you can copy and paste from down below and place it on their bucket. Labeling is important when it comes to cleaning! We hope your kiddo likes their new “toy” and that they’re love for cleaning grows and grows…we promise, anyone can learn to love cleaning, we sure do!