Parents know it’s a daily battle to get kids to do their chores. After all, with social media, streaming video, smartphone games and – don’t forget – hanging out with friends, it’s a tough sell to say that scrubbing down the house will be tons of fun.

Still, a touch of whimsy and a splash of color can help take the bore out of chores, for everything from washing dishes to recycling to helping cook nutritious meals.

“Kids want to participate, but we just have to make it easier for them,” says Martin Amado, Miami-based designer and host of the national home makeover show “Decorando Contigo,” on the Spanish-language network Galavision.

Amado, for instance, created kid-friendly recycling bins during a children’s room makeover. He took inexpensive and colorful waste bins and hung them on the wall using drawer knobs (large cup hooks also work). Each bin, a different color, carried decorative labels for what should go inside: paper, plastic or trash.

Kids can have fun tossing items into bins like shooting hoops.

“They also feel good about themselves because they know they are recycling and taking care of the earth,” he says.

 

Sometimes getting kids involved in cleaning means finding products that look cool and are easy to use. Casabella, a home cleaning products manufacturer in Rockland, N.Y., makes sleek and colorful cleaning tools that also are kid-friendly.

Casabella spokeswoman Susan Jardina says that some microfiber products (dusting cloths, dusters, mops) can be used with just water, no cleaning chemicals required. They encourage kids to take on some of the chores at home.

For kids, a dustpan and brush set is easier to manage than tall brooms, she adds.

Cooking with kids can be a way to get work done, have fun and teach some lessons. Handstand Kids Cookbook Co. creates international cookbook kits that introduce children to the culture, language and cuisine of a new country. Kids can cook nutritious food and learn about a different culture.

 

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