I picked the image above to head this post because it just made me laugh. The mom is doing her best to get the laundry on the line while the little girl is sitting there making a mess out of the clothes pins. I guess the reality of trying to clean up with kids in the house is timeless!
It wasn't until I was much older and well into my "adult" life that I learned how to clean. I certainly wasn't raised by my parents to know how, and I am not a naturally neat person. I read somewhere once that knowing how to properly clean our homes and do chores is one thing that is so important in our daily lives, and yet, very few of us we actually taught how to do it.
I am trying to teach my kids how to clean up after themselves, and let me tell you, it is still a work in progress! I am choosing to believe that learning to pitch in with chores is a journey not a destination, and hopefully, my two kids are progressing on that journey. Some days I have my doubts.
If you are working with your littles to teach them how to clean up after themselves, here is the book list for you! I want to teach my kids not only so they can take care of themselves when they go out on their own, but also so they know that they are integral parts of our family who have the responsibility to help.
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1. How Do Dinosaurs Clean Their Room?
We love this series of hilarious "how to" books featuring parents and their sweet little dinosaurs! This one is all about how dinosaurs learn to clean up the house!
2. Clean-Up Time
This board book is great for teaching toddlers how to pick up their toys and put them away with silly rhyming words that after a couple of reads, you will find yourself chanting every time it's clean-up time!
3. Monster Mess!
You know your room is a mess when the monster that came to scare you at bedtime is grossed out by your messy room. That's bad, y'all. When this monster sneaks into a little boy's room, he doesn't like what he sees - toys everywhere, juice boxes on the floor, dirty clothes. He decides he has no other choice but to clean it all up while the boy sleeps.
4. Time To Clean Up, Pick Up, and Recycle with The Berenstain Bears
When the Bear family sees trash everywhere - at their local park, at home, and all around their city - they decide they have to do something about it. This book is about helping out and cleaning up but also about getting into the helping spirit to make the world better.
5. Red Wagon
When Lucy gets her very own red wagon, she wants to run off and play with it, but her mom wants her to use her wagon to help with chores like hauling groceries from the market. Lucy uses her imagination to make doing chores fun.
6. Toby Counts His Marbles
This is part of an awesome series of books that follow Toby the Mouse. In this story, Toby wants to play with his marbles, but when he gets his marble box down from the shelf, it is empty! He didn't put his marbles away the last time that he played with them. Toby has to search for his marbles, counting them as he goes, and he learns that playtime goes more smoothly if you put your toys where they belong after playing.
7. Whose Hands Are These? A Community Helper Guessing Book
This book is all about community helpers, be they police officers, firefighters, bakers, construction workers, doctors, or teachers. Community helpers make our towns better places to live. Learning to do chores to help your family when you're young may lead to a life spent helping others in you wider community.
