A simple chore chart is an easy way to help teach responsibility to our kids! Although sometimes getting kids to help with chores may feel like an uphill battle. Today I’m sharing a simple chore chart that not only works wonders in helping the house stay tidy, it also teaches life skills and makes helping around the house fun!
Where to Start
I’d like to preface that my girls are ages 8, 6 and 5. We have done chores with them in the past at younger ages, but that takes a lot more parent involvement. My girls are at an age now where they can operate our chore system independently. If my oldest were in my 5 year old’s place, she would still probably need a lot of guidance, but because my 5 year old has older sisters helping her read and mark the correct area, I don’t need to help as much.
1. The chore chart
We have tried a number of chore charts over the years, and we finally created one that works! I started by creating a printable and printed one for each one of my girls (FREE click here). It’s important for my girls that they have their own separate paper to look off of and record their completed chores each day. I added the chore charts for each one of my girls into plastic sleeves so that we could use dry erase markers and easily wipe off the x’s to start over each week without reprinting.
2. Set area for display
In the past we had charts that the girls could take with them as they did their chores. However they kept getting lost or they would draw all over them and it wasn’t as effective. Having a specific location for your chore area is key! Think of a central location where your children can look at the chore chart as needed and make sure it’s low enough for them to use independently. Ours is just off of our kitchen where I am usually around to keep an eye out when they are coming and going. This also makes it so if they have any questions, I’m likely already close by.
We needed a restock for our prize box and decided it would be fun to go to the dollar store and let the girls pick what they wanted to put in the prize box. This was so fun and they were even more excited to do their chores so that they could get the prizes they picked out previously.
3. Incentives
It’s important to add in incentives for your chore system so that your child/children stay motivated to do their chores each day. We have daily incentives as well as weekly incentives. Our daily incentive is screen time. Once they have completed their chores, they get to have screen time.
For our chore chart we decided to add a point system. You can choose whether or not to use it (you could just leave that part blank), but this is how ours works. A certain number of x’s gets awarded different levels of incentives. For example, 15-20 x’s means that they get to pick a prize from our prize box. We use a magnetic closure gift box (like this one) and have little things such as various fidget toys, themed erasers, mini bubbles, small treats, squishies, and our kid pass cards (these are little passes such as a girls night, family movie night, ice cream etc). At the end of the week (ours is every Sunday), the girls get to pick from the prize box for doing their chores. These don’t cost us much money while still encouraging our daughters to do household chores with a little incentive attached. If the girls do more than 20 x’s they start earning a little money. If you would like, you could do allowance as your incentive, or whatever else you come up with. My girls still are interested in earning money, so that’s why we added our popsicle sticks in the next step.
4. Earning Money with Extra Chores
Growing up my mom always had a list of things we could do to earn money when we wanted to buy something. She called them our “extra chores”. These chores were optional, and ones we could get paid for. I added our “extra chores” onto popsicle sticks (shown below). I then color coded the sticks with a colored dot for each of the girls which showed whether or not they could do that chore. Some of the sticks are chores each of my girls can do despite their age differences, and others only my oldest can do, or my two oldest. So for example my oldest daughter’s dot is light blue. Every stick that has a light blue dot on it is an option for her. My youngest has a purple dot. Every stick that contains a purple dot are chores that she can do. Different extra chores have different values. The more difficult/time consuming the chore, the more they get paid.
Things to Keep in Mind
If you are just starting out with chores, it will take a lot more of your involvement as you teach your children how to do the specific tasks. Be patient. You are teaching your children some important life skills. Don’t be overly picky. Use words of affirmation and encouragement. Soon they will also realize the daily routine of completing the same chores each day makes it so that the chores will be easier and quicker to complete the following day. For us, the point system is great and allows them to do what they can. If they have a day that they aren’t super interested in doing a lot of chores, I try to encourage, but not force. I have days where I don’t want to clean the house either so it’s understandable if they do as well. However, they don’t get the incentive without completing their chores. We may still have screen time as a family at the end of the day, but they don’t get to have individual screen time such as playing games on the tablet.
Hopefully these suggestions, resources and tips help you! Let me know if you have any questions or additional tips in the comments below!
Board Links
Almost everything we got for our chore chart board we got from Ikea. I added any additional links along with our board below.
Peg Board
I wanted a board that was large enough to fit four chore charts if needed. I added four chore charts to ours and then our family calendar since my girls are at an age where they constant ask what we have each day.
