How to Keep a Clean Playroom

Taking care of a little one is hard enough when the house is put together.  It feels impossible when there are toys everywhere.

As a mom, I can say with confidence it is impossible to keep up with everything the house needs alone.  Everything is much easier when the baby can pick up after themselves.  

How do you get your toddler to pick up after themselves?  It actually isn’t hard with a few simple systems in place.

Have less stuff

Toy minimalism has made my life so much easier.  When I have more toys available in her play area, my daughter is less imaginative, more bored, and she has a harder time picking up after herself.

Try to have open-ended toys available.  Characters like stuffed animals and baby dolls are great.  So are blocks and building toys.  Cars and trucks and art supplies are fun too.

Just make sure not to have too much of anything out at one time.  Children don’t need 6 baby dolls, 2 is more than enough.  If the family has duplos, blocks, and magnitiles don’t put all of them out at once.  

When I was growing up we had tons of every kind of toy.  It was impossible to keep clean.  There wasn’t enough space for everything to be put away.  We had a mound of stuffed animals high enough to get lost in, and more barbies than I could count.  

I still remember the battles we would fight over the clutter.  My parents would scream at us to pick up our play area, and we would meltdown because it was way too overwhelming.  We had a whole basement full of toys and were perpetually bored and couldn’t figure out what to play with.

Too many options aren’t only a problem for toys, it also makes getting dressed more difficult.  I don’t know any child that needs multiple shoes of each type.  Honestly, my daughter only has one pair of shoes.  In the summer she had a pair of shoes and a pair of water socks so she could run through sprinklers.  

We never lose her shoes because she only has one pair.  Capsule wardrobes can simplify baby life too.  It really simplifies getting dressed when everything fits in a single drawer.

If there are too many toys, consider implementing a toy rotation or downsizing the toy stash.

Make it easy

Cleaning up is difficult enough without having complicated storage schemes.  I’ve tried a number of storage solutions in the playroom, and a hybrid of the Montessori shelving scheme seems to work best.

On the bottom shelf, I have big bins that hold the building toys.  At any given time, I have 2 different sets of building toys available.  Right now we have a big bin of duplos and one of wooden blocks and cards.

The higher shelves hold a single activity in each of an assortment of shallow baskets and trays.  Those single activities have specific purposes.  For example, I have a basket that holds a collection of toys and items that are the color of the week.  There is one that holds an assortment of beads and a skewer to string them on.  One basket holds puzzle pieces and sits on top of the puzzle boards.

At any given time I have between 4 and 6 individual activities available.  She pulls out the basket with the activity, sits down and plays with it, and then returns the items to the basket when she is done.  The basket doesn’t always make its way back to the shelf, but it is easier to put a basket away than it is to pick up a bunch of pieces.

Beyond the shelves there is a ball pit and a sensory table with specific activities in the bins.

This works because there is a clear bin for each major category of thing.  Every activity is complete and together, so it is easy to find and easy to put away.  There is enough available to play with without being overwhelming.  

Consider the placement of self-care items as well.  We have a basket for all of her self care items in the living room and a basket at the foot of the stairs for dirty clothes.  She delights in putting her dirty clothes in the basket because she knows she is helping.

Model good behavior

Children don’t do as they are told, they model what they see.  

If mommy and daddy put their dirty clothes in the basket, the baby will want to do the same.  It isn’t enough to set up good systems, they have to learn how to use those systems by demonstration.

Don’t speak when demonstrating something for the baby to model.  Young children can either pay attention to words or actions, not both.  Say what you are doing before doing it, demonstrate the behavior silently, and then say the words again.

For example, if I want my daughter to learn to pick up her cars, I will say something like “Are you done playing with your cars?  Okay, let’s put them away.”

Then I will pick up the cars and put them in the basket with the blocks.  Most of the time, my daughter will help me put the cars away.  Once the cars are away I will say “Cars away, all clean!  Yay! Thanks for helping!”

It doesn’t take much modeling for it to become a habit.  Soon, all you will have to say is “Are you done playing with your cars?” and suddenly the baby will fly into action putting them away.

Be consistent, and model the same way each time. 

Use consistent language

There are a thousand ways to trigger a cleanup verbally, but the child will get confused with inconsistent verbal cues.  Try to use the same language each time.

I tend towards questions of the form “Are you done with this?” because I don’t want to prompt clean up of something she is actually using.  Maybe the baby is on the floor because she is “sleeping” and I need to leave her there for her nap.  

When my toddler gives me a cue that she is done with something, I tend to say “Okay, let’s put it away.”  

My little girl knows what “away” means, but when strangers ask her to “clean up” she is lost.  

I know a lot of people who prompt cleaning up with the cleanup song, others prompt with the term clean.  There is no right way or wrong way to do this.  Just be consistent.

Use positive praise

To encourage the child to clean the way you want, praise them when they get it right.  When my daughter puts her toys away, I make sure to tell her how helpful her action was.

“Thank you for putting your toys away.  That was very helpful.” gets amazing results.

Children only want to be helpful and contribute to the family.  Give them the responsibility and praise them for their help and they will blossom.

Make sure you don’t shame them for not putting things away.  They are still learning.  When they don’t put something away, demonstrate what you wanted them to do.  Resist any urges to be passive-aggressive, just model the good behavior again.

Don’t expect perfection

As an adult, I struggle to put everything away when I am done with it.  My daughter is 2.  With a little verbal prompting, she picks up her stuff 60% of the time.  Without prompting, she cleans up maybe 20% of the time.  

That is nowhere near 100%, but it is amazing progress and better than some adults.  The more consistent I am, and the longer we work at it, the better the results are.

Remember, the goal isn’t to have a perfect child, it is to instill habits they carry with them into adulthood. 

So don’t get frustrated.  Don’t get mad.  Work together to make cleaning up a habit for every member of the family.  It is a lot of work, but it really pays off.

What are your favorite toy organization schemes.  Let me know in the comments below!