Just keep a small amount of toys out for the kids to play with and pack the rest away.
One can also expect some understanding from viewers that it’s impossible to keep it completely tidy with kids. Alternatively have an inspection when the kids aren’t around.

have baskets or stools with lids around house, if getting a viewing in go all the stuff kids got out,you just keep benches etc clean and fresh flowers (even picked ones and roast few coffee beans in oven to give home lived in family flavour,smell of biscuts cooking good too, make a big batch of biscuit mix and bake a few a day and an airwick spray and your on your way, happy selling

Pack away as much as possible and hide boxes in cupboards.

Try and have a declutter beforehand, if it hasn’t got a home chuck it and cupboards are great for shoving last minute things into. We’ve sold a few houses and the best tip I can say is less on display is best.

Declutter well in advance of listing the house and then keep a large cupboard empty so that you can do a whip around and chuck everything in there on the day.

Whenever we have had a house on the market I declutter completely. Anything that is in the house that is not needed is put into storage. Not only is it easier to keep neat but it makes the house look bigger!

have plug in scent things to help leave people with a nice impression of your home as well.

I am doing same at the moment – I get up earlier each morning and run a cloth over everything, throw towels in machine daily – no one wants to be reminded you have used shower or used loo – and my windows are spotless

The more you can get rid of before the open days, the better. You won’t want to take it all to the new house anyway, so get rid of it now. And especially children’s toys and clothes – they will never miss them in a new house.

Keep on top of things by doing a little bit of sorting, packing and tidying everyday. This way it does not become overwhelming and make lots of trips to donate to your local op shop. Believe me you wont miss all that “stuff’!

Have a garage sale, or put things in storage or a friends shed who has some spare space 🙂

Thank you all for your comments. Its been very helpful.

Agree with the suggestions that you should get as much stuff out of the house as possible; the less clutter the less things that can make a mess.

de-clutter and simplify. have a meal of pizza on the lawn, try to keep the kids busy outdoors

Store as much as you can so it doesn’t get used or pulled out. I use my laundry baskets to take all the washing and last minute grab of toys and stored them in the car for the open inspection.

Grrr. My washing machine broke down 2 hours before one of my inspections. It was hot weather and normally the washing would have been dry and put away. Instead of that I had to mop up water that had come out of a faulty new split hose. Usual procedure is not to be home at all during open inspection. Friends of ours had a large hamper in the kid’s rooms that they had to put their toys away in. If they are old enough get them into the habit of doing it all the time. You may need to supervise the first time. Worked for us for awhile. Good luck with selling your home

Everyone have showers the night before, have a few toys out that won’t make a mess and are easy to pack away, get the kids out of the house as easy as possible (neighbours/friends/family). Stay out if possible until after inspections/home open completed. We also had a set of clean white towels that we put out for inspections and chucked everything into dishwasher and had that running when we left. You can always hide dirty clothes and wet towels in washing machine. We also had extra stuff (large toys/play tables etc in neighbours shed).