Time To Clean The Dining Room Table?

Every once in a while, the table has a few too many stains and needs a good cleaning.  It doesn't have to seem like work though!  Here is how you can start cleaning the dining room table with your children.

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This article was written 12/28/2017. This article has been “brought to the top” by request. I presently have eight children.

Tell The Kids We Are Going To Do Something Messy

I gear the kids up by saying, “go put on some old clothes, we are going to do something messy”.  They get really excited and come back smiling.  Kids love to get messy, don't they?  I tell an older one to go to the HBA box and get some shaving gel or cream.  The older kids know what I'm up to, but the smaller ones may or may not as we only do this once a year, usually after we get the table messy with food coloring, permanent marker or acrylic paints.  They may have been napping or may be too small to remember.

 

Ask Them All To Sit Around The Table

Explain that it is important that we spread out as we each need to cover a whole area of space on the table.  With seven children, I have no problem covering most of the table!

 

Ask An Older Child To Spray The Table

Explain that we need to shake the shaving gel or shaving cream can before spraying on the table and to avoid spraying towards eyes.  Have them cover the whole table in a big, spaced out zig-zag fashion, then come back and spray in the empty areas until the whole can is used up.  We buy ours at Dollar Tree. 

 

Have The Kids Spread It All Over

Have the children first spread the cream or gel over their whole area.  After that, they can write in it or suds it up to make foamy hands, beards, etc.  I like to do this shortly before my little one's bath time to wash off the soap right away.  The older kids are good about washing themselves with a washcloth and some may not get as messy, or should I say clean?

I like to do this when my youngest is taking a nap.  He is only one and may want to eat it.

The key is to have the table be soaked in the suds for a while.

We love to have a good time together!

Give Each Child A Damp Wet Rag To Wipe Their Area Clean

There will be hardly any suds left if you let them play, I mean clean, long enough.  Get a warm, damp wash cloth for each child and have them wipe their area clean.  Then you take a wet washcloth and clean after them.  Dry the table with a towel.

Oil The Table

Have the kids go clean themselves up.  I have the older children help the younger ones clean up.  Then I take a rag and put olive oil on it and soak the table with it so it appears wet.

Alternatively, sometimes, if it is right before a holiday where I will have guests over – instead of the olive oil – I will use orange oil wood polish. This I do when the children are playing together elsewhere with the older ones watching the younger, so we don't have fingerprints! Then I will watch a movie with my younger children (sometimes the older ones join too) and let the table dry. When dry, take an old towel and rub it on the table to thoroughly dry it. In the end, you will have a clean table and happy, clean kids!

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