5 Games to Get the House Clean

Forget those boring, traditional cleaning methods. It's game time!

Fact: kids hate cleaning. It's never as fun as playing outside, watching TV, eating a snack or, frankly, making a royal mess. Many sitters think that means they'll be stuck spending as much time cleaning up after the kids as they do entertaining them. But who says those have to be two different activities?

These five games combine cleaning with entertainment so you can keep the home neat and tidy while also keeping the kids happy.

1. Burst Those Bubbles

Okay, washing the dishes isn't exactly exciting... or is it? One way to sway the kids into lending a hand is to rev up the fun factor: Have the sitter make bubbles by mixing together one cup of water, a third of a cup of dish soap and a little bit of light corn syrup. The kids can use this bubbly, soapy concoction to wash their own plates after a meal with more giggles than groans.

2. Spic-and-Span Simon Says

Ask the sitter to gather the children into the room that needs to be cleaned and tell them it's time to play Simon Says. Each time a child follows a command without hearing "Simon Says," he must do one quick chore. Want to make the most out of this game? Have the sitter sneak in a cleaning command—such as, "Simon says, put away one item with red on it,"—just in case this is one of those rare times when the kids are actually listening intently and obeying her every single word.

3. Racing Music Mania

Once again, select a room in serious need of organization and have the sitter gather the kids, an iPod, some speakers and their favorite playlist. When the music begins, the children must run around the room cleaning it with the goal of having the whole place totally organized by the end of the song. For an added twist, toss in a "freeze tag" element by stopping the music occasionally to make everyone freeze until it starts back up again.

4. Pick-Up Parade

When there are several rooms—or hallways, nooks and crannies—with tons of clutter, suggest that the sitter organize a Pick-Up Parade by marching through the house and picking up the items that have been strewn about. One child may be in charge of holding the garbage bag in case there are some questionable items that need to be discarded.

5. Inspector Sitter-Sleuth

Give the kids each one small toy to hide somewhere in the room that needs to be cleaned. Have the sitter explain to them that part of picking a good hiding place is making sure nothing in the room stands out—so they'd better straighten it up if they want to make the toy totally undetectable. Once the toys are hidden, the sitter (excuse me, the inspector) can come in with her magnifying glass and detective badge to try to find the elusive toy.