Creating a Kids Cleaning Caddy for Little Helpers

Motivate your children to help with the cleaning by creating a fun, chemical-free cleaning caddy for kids. Included: my recipes for simple natural cleaning products, and a free printable room cleaning checklist.

Wanna know my secret to getting my kids to clean?  

It’s not a monthly allowance.  It’s not the reward of having a friend over. It’s not even candy bribery.  

Okay, okay.

I’ve tried all those things and more . . . desperate times and all.

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Watch my YouTube video for this post.

A mama has to have a big bag of tricks to make chores and cleaning fun, especially if they are to elicit some help for Spring cleaning! 

This year I’ve set the stage to make cleaning bright, fun, and cheerful with this DIY kid cleaning caddy. They can easily grab it and go clean to their heart’s content!  (which may or may not last for more than 5 minutes).

Creating your own kids cleaning caddy doesn’t take much more than a few simple essentials. 

You can visit my cleaning shop page to copy my caddy exactly if you wish. This same caddy comes in many colors, so you could play with the color scheme for your kids.

It’s really important to me to have my kids using products that are both safe for the home and for their bodies.  The cleaning solutions I’ve included are natural, toxic-free products and can be made with a few simple ingredients you might already have.

I know my kids will end up spraying way cleaner than they need, but I can hardly blame them when the cleaner smells so lemony fresh.   I feel okay about that knowing that it won’t harm them.

FREE PRINTABLE ROOM CLEANING CHECKLIST

Before we dive into all the supplies for the caddy, you can grab this FREE ROOM CLEANING CHECKLIST by filling out the form below.

You’ll receive an email to give you instant access to my TIDBITS SUBSCRIBER LIBRARY with this printable and more.

*Already a subscriber? No need to fill out the form again. The link and passcode to the library will be in every email I send.

WHAT TO INCLUDE IN A KIDS CLEANING CADDY

MICROFIBER RAGS

I try to keep their caddy stocked with some clean microfiber rags, which do the best job at grabbing dust rather than letting it fly into the air and back onto clean surfaces.

DISPOSABLE GLOVES

I have a couple of kids that don’t like to touch dirty things and will clean better if they have some gloves.  I just pick up disposable small latex gloves and keep some in their caddy.

MINI DUSTPAN SET

Dustpans seem to disappear around here, so I keep a small one right inside of here for them to gather up the piles of dirt after they have swept their floors.

ALL PURPOSE CLEANER

I include a plastic spray bottle of all-purpose cleaner.

There are several ways to make a natural all-purpose cleaner.  I always keep some concentrated pure Castile liquid soap on hand, and simply squirt a small amount into the bottle and fill the rest up with water.  This Dr. Bronner’s citrus soap smells so good and makes their rooms smell so fresh and clean. If you don’t have this, you could also mix together some 1 part white vinegar, 2 parts water, and 20 drops of citrus essential oils.

LINEN/ROOM SPRAY

The other spray I like to keep in their caddy is this little misting bottle of linen spray. 

I just fill up the bottle with filtered water (so it doesn’t leave hard water spots) and add 10 drops of lemon essential oil and 10 drops of orange essential oil.  It smells like paradise and is great to spray onto bedding, clothes, and inside drawers to freshen things up. Really, I find it a mental thing that delights the senses and is a sweet-smelling reward for cleaning up a room.  Your kids will love spraying their cleanroom with this, I promise.

CLEANING CHECKLIST

I include this cute laminated room cleaning checklist in our caddy with a dry erase marker.  My kids just work their way down to end up with a clean, smelling good room. So much of the struggle of getting kids to clean is not having expectations laid out clearly and this really helps us keep the peace on Saturday mornings. 

Here is a link to my favorite small home laminator and my label maker I use often!

KIDS PINAFORE APRONS

I also splurged a bit and got this darling yellow pinafore apron and a bigger neutral one for the older girls – which is sure to make cleaning a little more charming for your cutie.  Not necessary, for sure – but very fun!

A CLEANING CADDY FOR YOU!

Okay, that is all I have in the kids cleaning caddy!  It’s simple, yet productive – which is my approach to my cleaning caddy as well. CLICK HERE to check out what I stock in my cleaning caddy that does a fine job at motivating me to get cleaning.

MORE SPRING CLEANING IDEAS

I’m thrilled to have a few bloggers and real-life friends joining me for this collaboration.  We are all sharing content to help you with your Spring cleaning.

Laura, from My Oily House, is sharing her springtime cleaning process and simple to-do list.

My sweet friend, Julie Blanner is walking you through her entire Spring Cleaning Checklist.

Chloe from Boxwood Avenue is sharing her favorite green cleaning products and showing you how she organizes her cleaning cabinets.

You can check out our collaborative Spring Cleaning playlist to watch all the videos.

This is sure to be a wealth of inspiration and education and I hope you’ll enjoy watching all our videos and reading our posts.

I hope this post has left you inspired to give your home a good scrub down and to get your kids involved!

Thank you so much for reading!