Getting Ready for Pesach: The Right Way to Clean and Sort Your Kids' Toys

As Pesach approaches, there's a fresh-start feeling in the air. The kids' room could use a serious clean—especially the most-used stuff there—the toys. They tend to pile up and collect plenty of dust, dirt, and chametz(!) over the year—no question they need cleaning. The question is: how do you do it right?

Here are 5 tips to make it efficient.

1. Sorting

Toys, like anything at home, are meant to be used. If they aren't being used, it's time to store them for later or pass them along.

• Go through all the toys and decide which ones you want to keep, which to donate, and which to toss. Based on your kids' ages and personalities, check what's no longer being used—and why. Maybe the toy lived on a high shelf until now, or maybe it's just not interesting anymore. Use your judgment. Sometimes a simple toy rotation (hide a few for a month or more, then bring them back as a surprise) makes kids fall back in love with a forgotten toy and play with it for a long stretch.
• Ask your children which toys they no longer play with or don't want anymore. It's a great opportunity to teach values like giving, sharing, and of course organization and order.

2. Cleaning

• After sorting, decide which toys the kids will use on Pesach. If they're old enough, just ask them. Some people clean all the toys and games for the holiday, and some only a small portion. After all, it's just a week, and you might be out of the house—traveling or visiting.
• Once you've cleaned the toys you chose, pack them in large bags labeled 'Clean for Pesach'. Keep the bags out of the kids' reach. Until Pesach, they'll play with the toys that remain out. You'll be surprised how reducing the number of toys helps them focus and enjoy what they have. On Erev Pesach, when the house is already clean, gather the toys that weren't cleaned for Pesach into a shelf or cabinet prepared in advance, and bring out the cleaned toys.
• Since toys tend to collect lots of chametz crumbs over the year (and anyone who has cleaned them knows), the shelf or small cabinet for 'chametz toys' should be hidden (a cloth works) so kids can't access it during the holiday.

This approach has two clear benefits:

• Kids are thrilled when you bring out the clean toys on the evening of Pesach, and they get excited about them all over again.
• It lets you clean toys ahead of time, not at the last minute.

3. How to clean?

There are a few good, easy ways to clean toys. Here are the best ones:

• The old-school way — a big tub with water and soap. This method works for Playmobil and LEGO pieces, small figurines, and even larger toys. Want to turn it into an activity for toddlers? Put them in the bath with the toys. Of course, do not leave them for even a moment—both because of the water and the small parts.

• In the dishwasher: Note: not small parts, only larger toys made of hard plastic—and not electric ones, of course. A short, 30-minute cycle is usually enough.

• In the washing machine: Take a pillowcase and put inside small game parts like LEGO, Playmobil, or other tiny pieces you want to clean. Close the pillowcase tightly with a hair elastic. It's very important to secure it extremely well—wrap the elastic many times until it's fully tight—we definitely don't want tiny LEGO pieces loose in the machine. Run a short cycle, and then set the 'bag' in the sun.

4. Do's and don'ts:

• Plush dolls: If they're small, you can put them in a pillowcase as in the previous tip. If they're large and don't shed, you can wash them as-is on a short cycle.
• Regular dolls: You can definitely machine-wash them, but if they have hair, do not wash them without a protective pillowcase. The hair can separate from the doll's head and clog the machine, heaven forbid.
• Small metal cars: When my boys were little, I used to wash the small metal cars in the washing machine inside a pillowcase. It's certainly not ideal—especially for the washing machine. Still, those cars were the most beloved and most-used toys in the house all year, and cleaning car-by-car simply wasn't an option. After washing, make sure to dry the cars thoroughly so they don't rust. You can also spread them on the balcony or windowsill to air-dry.

5. Storage

• After cleaning, it's important to store the toys efficiently. Use boxes, baskets, or shelves. Mark them 'Clean for Pesach' and cover until the evening of Pesach.
• If you've invested so much in cleaning and sorting, organize toys by category—like dolls, cars, board games, etc.—and stick a label with the category name on each bin or box.

• During the year, try to sort out and remove toys that aren't in use instead of waiting until Pesach each time. It'll make next year's sorting much easier and the whole experience more pleasant.

Good luck! Have more toy-cleaning tips? Share them in the comments.