It’s National Play-Doh Day! September 16th is the one day in the year dedicated to this popular play toy enjoyed by all ages.

Originally designed to function as wallpaper cleaners in 1933, these non-toxic, putty products found better use as an imaginative sensory and learning experience for children. Play-Doh is the perfect craft for channeling your kid’s overflowing creative energy with its vibrant colors and malleable nature.

While being a super fun activity, Play-Doh much like crayons and stickers can get super messy! If you worry too much about the mess, you won’t enjoy the activity or the time with your little one. Dive into the play stress free with these five amazing tips to keep everyday messes as clean as possible.

1. Play-Doh

This colorful wax can stick to just about anything. Thankfully, it’s still reasonably easy to clean play-doh from carpets, clothing, or furniture. First, wait for the dough to dry. This would be hard to watch, but you must be patient to achieve the best results. If it’s stuck on a cloth, you can put the affected clothing in the freezer to speed things up.

After the dough is dry, use a spoon or butter knife to scrape the larger pieces of the dried Play-Doh. You can also use a stiff brush or old toothbrush to loosen up smaller, more stubborn bits. The next step is to vacuum up the dough pieces and clean the area with dish soap and cold water.

2. Stickers

Stickers are a favorite for kids but the absolute bane of parents when they get where they shouldn't. To clean stickers off glass, plastic, or wooden surfaces, use a credit card to scrape them away. If there are any gummy residues left, you can simply roll them off with your finger or use rubbing alcohol to lift them off. 

For surfaces like carpets, you need to apply heat with something like a blow dryer to melt the sticker adhesive. You can also place a paper towel directly on the sticker, then cover it with a clean piece of cloth and iron over the cloth to remove all the adhesive. 

3. Glitter

When your kid decides to add glitter to their drawing, get ready to find the sparkles everywhere in your home for at least a week. To prevent this, you must first restrict your kid to a particular room or space in the house while playing. That'll help reduce the area you’d need to clean afterward.

The best way to clean glitter from most surfaces is to use a sticky hair/lint roller. For clothes, apply aerosol hairspray on the glitter-covered area and allow it to dry completely before washing. Ensure you wash the cloth separately to keep the sparkly menace from transferring to other items.

4. Crayons

These are perfectly harmless until your child discovers wall art. Crayons are water resistant, so your typical dish soap won’t work on them. Thankfully, available items like toothpaste, vinegar, baking soda, or an eraser will help clean crayons off walls and other surfaces.

You can make a paste with baking soda and water, then scrub. Applying non-gel toothpaste on the spot and rubbing it with a sponge also works. Alternately, spray some vinegar on the surface and use a toothbrush to scrub the crayon marks away. Pencil erasers are a bit exhaustive, but they also do the trick. 

Remember to rinse the surface with a damp cloth when you remove the mark and clean it with a dry rag.

5. Milk

Liquid messes are the most annoying to deal with because they spread fast. If you don’t clean milk spills well, they start smelling in a few days, so you must handle them thoroughly. First, soak up the spill with paper towels, then apply dish soap on a damp dishcloth to scrub the rest of the mess. To prevent an odor, sprinkle a generous amount of baking soda on that area, leave for 30 minutes to an hour, then vacuum.

Kids will always be kids, and cleaning up after them is an inevitable part of parenthood. However, they are also very impressionable, so you can always teach them to be more organized and careful. Give them bins to store their toys and reward them whenever they clean up after playtime. Involve them in the cleanup after they make a mess and make it fun and exciting for them. Steps like this would go a long way to make them more careful and responsible.

Alternately, for messes you can’t handle, you can always call professional cleaning services to help clean and organize your space. Enjoy the day and make the most of the messy play time!