We all know about Spring Cleaning our houses. We open windows and clean them, air the house out, pull out the appliances and clean behind them, empty the fridge and scrub it, basically we give the house an overhaul and prepare for the warmer months knowing we are starting fresh.
After having kids I slowly started to realize that I needed to apply the same principals and energy to my kids rooms, because lets be honest, after a long winter of closed windows and kids playing inside with their friends the rooms start to get a little funky! So every Spring I go through the following steps and give their rooms a good cleaning and an overhaul as well.
Spring Cleaning Your Kids Rooms
Toys
So many toys. Spring is the perfect time to dump all the toys into the middle of the room an start to sort. Put one bin for keeping, one for donating and get a garbage bag to throw out all the broken toys, all the little pieces that have fallen off other toys and all those puzzle pieces that were lost and forgotten back in the fall. TOSS THEM!
Clothing
This can be a really fun part of the process, go through all your kids clothing with them, yes even socks and underwear. Have them model stuff to see if it still fits, or if they still like it. Although it may fit, if they won’t wear it, don’t keep it. Donate or hand down any good quality items and throw out any items that will never be good to wear again. This is a great way to take inventory of what they have for the upcoming months and what you will need to buy.
Books
Browse your child’s bookshelf and remove any books that are no longer being read by them, perhaps they have moved past that level of reading or they just no longer like that book. Pass the books along to other families that might like them. Your child has most likely progressed in their reading ability or perhaps the topics they like to read about.
Craft Items
If your child likes to draw and craft in their room they probably have a pile of half used this or that, markers that no longer work, glue that is dried up and paper that just needs to go to the recycling bin. Organize and take stock of what is still good to use and what needs to be replaced.
Decals and Posters
As your child is now months older then when the winter started, they may no longer care for the decals that were fine when they were younger or posters of singers or tv characters that they no longer like. If you can get the decals and posters off without ripping them someone else maybe be able to enjoy them. Take some time over the summer to replace them with ones that are more to your child’s new likings.
Curtains
Curtains can become dusty and musty over the winter. The windows have been shut and often times there is a heating vent just below them that has been blowing all kids of dust particles onto them for months. I take down the curtains on a nice day and place them outside to air out for a while, or alternatively give them a good spin around in the dryer.
Under the Bed
It’s the one place we all avoid when we run the vacuum around the room, it just takes extra time and really who sees under there anyways. In the spring make the extra effort to look under there to see what has been lurking throughout the past few months, and give it a good clean, usually dust has piled up onto the carpet and it just needs a good going over.
Rearrange – Kids often like to rearrange their rooms to mix things up a bit. Spring is a great time to plan a new layout for your their room as it allows you to clean under and around some of the spaces you don’t normally get at once the furniture is moved.
Spring Cleaning your child’s room does not have to be a chore, it can be a fun time that allows him or her to take control of their space and give it Spring Facelift. Have fun with it.
