Age-Appropriate Chores for Kids (That Work for Us)
A household with kids who pitch in to keep things running smoothly is many parents’ dream, but it can be tricky to get the ball rolling. The good news is that you don’t have to have it all figured out from the beginning. Starting small with one or two age appropriate chores and building from there will likely be more sustainable than starting at full speed.
One of the biggest hurdles to implementing a chore routine can be deciding what to have your kids do, so let’s build a list of age appropriate chores for kids that we’ve implemented in our own homes. Even parents who already have chores happening can benefit from some fresh ideas!
What chores do your kids help out with around the house? Please add them below and share any tips for getting these tasks done.
Why Kids Should Do Chores
Doing chores is more than just taking some of the load off of the parents’ shoulders, though that’s certainly nice! There are other valuable reasons to have your kids help around the house. Keeping these benefits in mind might motivate you to push through the tough transition.
- Chores can teach kids valuable life skills so they’ll be better prepared when they’re out in the world.
- Chores give kids a sense of responsibility and purpose, and promote a feeling of teamwork within the family.
- The experience of completing challenging tasks independently boosts self-confidence and problem-solving ability.
- For toddlers and younger kids, chores can have the developmental benefit of helping them build motor skills.
Linking Allowance to Chores
If your kids get an allowance, should it be tied to chores? Parents can be pretty torn on this.
Incentivizing the completion of chores may make them more likely to get done, but it can get tricky if your kid decides one day that it’s not worth the reward and opts out.
It can be argued that doing chores is just part of what it means to be a member of a family, and these habits need to be built without the promise of payment. After all, mom and dad don’t get paid for the things they do around the house, do they?
If you still want your kids to have some experience managing money, you might give an allowance that’s not tied to chores. Or, you can consider paying your kids for helping out with additional one-off tasks that you ask them to complete beyond their regular responsibilities.
Tips for Scheduling and Managing Chores
A big drawback for many parents is that it takes a lot of work to make sure kids actually accomplish their chores. It’s nice to have the help, but not when it requires constant reminding! Think about ways that you can take the logistical burden off your plate.
Look at the existing organizational tools your family already has in place, and start there. It could be a white board in a common area that kids know to check for chore assignments, a shared electronic calendar with scheduled tasks, or simple reminders scheduled with Alexa if chores happen at a certain time of day. What is everyone most likely to pay attention to?
Ideas for Children’s Chores
It’s really never too early to start pitching in around the house. Even toddlers can have simple chores with help from a parent or older sibling, and the bonus is that they’ll probably find these to be pretty fun at-home activities.
Older kids and teens might also be able handle more than you think. In fact, they can probably do pretty much anything you can. You’ll need to give up on a certain element of perfection because the job might not get done as well as you would do it yourself, but isn’t it worth the tradeoff? Decide which chores would make the biggest difference for you, and give it a try.
For inspiration on the best chores for every age, check out the parent-submitted ideas below. Please add your own kids chore ideas and tips to help grow the list!
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Picking weeds outside, watering flowers/plants/herbs and raking leaves is a chore that my kids find fun. (Added bonus if you buy their own gloves/watering can).
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Taking out the trash and recycling to the curb, and bringing the empty bins back in after pickup. This is my teen's chore, as the bins are pretty big and harder for a smaller kid to handle. A good add-on to this is collecting the trash from the various cans around the house before it all goes to the curb.
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The night before garbage day is pretty much an all family affair at our house, and we split up duties to make it go faster. Even our little kids help with gathering garbage bags from around the house, or putting the cans back after someone puts a new liner/bag in them. We also help our neighbors bring their empty bins back up with ours, and have our older kids do so, too, to practice being a good neighbor!
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Setting the table and pouring drinks while mom or dad make dinner for the family is a great way for kids to help out at mealtime. This is one of my middle schooler's chores, but it works for younger kids too.
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Pet care has many great options for age-appropriate chores for kids. Feeding and watering, taking the dog for a walk, cleaning the litter box and grooming tasks are all important.
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Clearing the dishes after a meal, loading and unloading the dishwasher, and making sure that the dogs have their food and water.
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Putting away groceries is one chore that my teen and tween don't mind, because they like to check out the grocery haul when I bring it home.
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Lots of yard work options for chores! Older kids can mow the lawn, and all ages can help with sweeping, pulling weeds and other gardening tasks.
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Disinfecting door handles is a good one, especially around cold and flu season. Once they're old enough to safely use disinfecting wipes, kids can walk around the house wiping down door handles and other high-touch spots like drawer pulls, light switches and faucets.
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Straightening the family's shoe area is a good chore that I'm about to assign to our tween, but any age could do it. Our shoes are on shelves in the bottom of our coat closet, but it becomes a disaster so quickly when the kids just kick them off into a pile and shut the door! Organizing the shoes every day will only take a couple minutes, and will make it so much easier for everyone to find their shoes on the way out the door.
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Laundry is a wonderfully adaptable chore that kids of all ages can help with in some capacity. Toddlers and preschoolers can help put laundry into the washer and dryer and take it out again when it’s done, while elementary-school-aged kids can wash, dry and put away their clean clothes with varying degrees of help from you. Tweens and teens can probably handle everything on their own as long as you’ve shown them what to do beforehand.
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This is a chore we start early! I haven't touched my teens' laundry in years.
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Loading and unloading the dishwasher is a daily chore for our older kids. When they aren't around to do it, my preschooler helps by handing me all the dishes from the bottom rack so I don't have to bend over as much! He's also really good at putting the silverware away - my least favorite part!
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For very little, I have them sort laundry into piles for who it belongs to. The next ones are folding washcloths and carrying things to/from the dinner table. Watering plants is also good for little ones.
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My 4- and 7-year-olds are surprisingly good at washing the walls - which is great since they're the ones that make them disgusting! This is a special chore we don't do all the time, and is one I'll often offer as a way for them to earn a little extra cash. I just give them a bowl of soapy water, a microfiber towel, and set a big towel on the floor to catch most of the mess.
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Dusting is a chore I'll assign to all of my kids, from preschooler to teens. I just adjust who dusts what based on how fragile it is!
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Vacuuming rugs. This is mostly a chore for my teens, as the vacuum is too big and unwieldy for the little ones.
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I started showing my children by having them wipe the tables and taking the dishes to the sink. They then moved to washing the cups and bowls until they could do them all. Then they moved to taking out the trash until they were cooking and dying it all. My grandchildren started the same way they know how to clean and take out the trash, they know how to do their laundry and clean their designated areas. I'm currently teaching them how to cook and how to do the dishes.
