DIY Children’s Chore Chart

Do you remember a few weeks ago when my fabulous friend shared her Weekly Cleaning Plan with us?! I am excited to tell you that she is BACK, but this time with a chore chart for the KIDS! Getting the little ones to enjoy doing their part around the house can be a project in itself, but with her helpful tips and tricks and even a DIY Children’s Chore Chart for each member of your family – your kids are going to WANT to help out!

Take it away Crystal:

I decided it was about time to get my 2 and 4 year olds to help out around the house. Pinterest came in handy (as it always does) and I fell in love with a magnetic flip chart from here and made my own version. I loved how there are no pieces to lose and it is very visual for all ages to quickly see what they need to do and if it has been done!

I created a Morning job chart to get my boys to start the day. Basically it includes 4 things they need to do anyway, but by flipping up the strip it makes it more fun and they can see their progress! Plus they can learn responsibility!

For the “Choose a Chore” I have a jar of Popsicle sticks from a previous effort of job training which didn’t work, where they choose a stick and do the job. I got my list of ideas from searching for age appropriate jobs for kids on Pinterest. In our house, doing one chore is part of their responsibility in helping keep our house nice, but if they choose to do more than one chore than they can earn money for the extra chores. I try to make the chores short, simple, and fun to help my kids not view ‘jobs’ negatively.

One morning when my 4 year old started to grumble, I quickly made it into a game to see how fast he could get it done (and of course I modified his job that day to be super quick). That way he still did a job to close his tab and he had a feeling of accomplishment, and he realized it wasn’t that bad!

Here is my list of chores on the sticks:

• Vacuum
• Sanitize light switches
• Wash doors
• Clean door handles
• Unload dishes (mainly silverware)
• Load dishes
• Clean windows
• Dust
• Wash walls (choose an area/room to do, then when they pick it again the next day – which they have – then I choose another area.)
• Wipe baseboards (see above note on the wash walls)
• Wipe out bathroom sink
• Clean grout (I have a grout spray and toothbrush and give them an area to do)
• Wipe out fridge shelves
• Wipe chairs
• Wipe Appliances (like front of dishwasher/fridge)
• Wipe cabinets
• Put Clothes in washer (or move clothes from washer to dryer)
• Sort laundry
• Put laundry away

I try to simplify the ones my 2 year old picks for now and I expect more from my 4 year old. Also, if you saw my post from last week on the cleaning chart I created, you may notice that several of my jobs I have given to my kids to do which is awesome because then they do it and I get to check it off my list too!

Today my 2 year old picked ‘Load the dishes’ (notice the tongue – it was hard work!) –

My 4 year old picked ‘Wash back door’ – which clearly was so fun that my 2 year old also wanted to help (it may have left more streaks, but at least they are learning to work and be proud of their efforts!).

I also made a Night Job Chart for my sanity and to give my kids direction when they need to be getting ready for bed. Does anyone else dread the bedtime routine? Getting 3 kids ready for bed with my husband gone Monday-Thursday until 9pm is very trying on my patience…

With this chart, I can tell my two boys to do their night jobs while I can feed and put my baby to sleep. My 4 year old is able to help my 2 year old stay on track since there is a visual focus with the chart of what they need to do. With the nightly routine out of the way in a timely manner, it is much more enjoyable to read them stories in bed, rather than yelling surviving until the routine is done.

I love walking by their room and seeing at a glance if they have done their jobs!

All open:

Obviously you can change the jobs to be anything you want, especially to apply to older kids! My 8 year old niece asked her mom if she could have a flip chart like my boys!

Other Job ideas include:

• Practicing the piano
• Getting Homework Done
• Feeding the pets
• Clean Room
• Clean bathroom
• Set Table/Clear Table
• Dishes

Now on how to make it:

You need:

8 1/2” x 11” piece of colored card stock*

A Paper Trimmer Fiskars 152490-1002 Portable Paper Trimmer, 12-Inch with a score blade (or a regular blade could work if pressed lightly)

Magnetic Tape Flexible Magnet Tape, 1/16″ Thick, 1″ Width, 10 Foot Roll (1 roll)(can be bought on Amazon or Target)

Images printed and cut into 2 ½” x 2 ½” squares

Chore description printed and cut into 2 ½” x 2 ½” squares

“DONE” printed 4 times 1” x 2 ½”

Glue or double-sided tape (I used the tape)

*(You could also use a 12”x12” page and do more than 4 jobs but there will be different measurements.

1. Score the paper (or lightly cut so it doesn’t go through) vertically at 3 ¾ inch mark. Then fold on the line.

The extra inch at the top is for the title: example: James’s Night Jobs

2. Then cut the shorter end every 2 ¾ inches up to the folded line.

Once the cuts are made it will look like this

3. Now get whatever image you want off the internet (since mine was a personal chart and at the time I wasn’t planning on sharing it, I didn’t get permission to share the images). However I just saved the images, and then put them into a word document and sized them into 2 ½ inch squares. Print and Cut into squares.

4. Type the job descriptions in a 2 ½ inch square, as well as the word “DONE” size 1” x 2 ½”, and a title. Print and Cut.

5.Tape or glue all the pieces on.

(If I were to do it again, I would have laminated it after this step, but since you have to cut between the page, I’m not sure how it would work. These pictures were taken after using them for a month, so you can tell it is slightly bent in a few places, but still pretty good).

6. Stick the magnetic tape on so the flaps can close.

(In the picture I cut two pieces off my magnetic tape and stuck them together as magnets, which usually is slightly off center. Then I stuck the two outside sticky sides to the job chart to make sure they lined up correctly.

Then you are done and ready to present it to your kids!

(obviously they haven’t closed up “Get Dressed” today since they are still in their jammies 🙂 )

Presentation: I did a family lesson demonstrating how we all need to do our part found here. I labeled several big cans with different jobs around the house and loaded them into a bag. I had everyone try to lift the heavy bag and explained that this is what mom is doing every day. Then I asked them what they could do to help and they each took a can into their own bag and everyone’s bags were lighter to carry. Then I introduced the job charts and explained how they worked.

The boys were so excited! In fact for the next 3 days they were up at 6 o’clock AM with their beds made and I could hear them talking in the bathroom as they were brushing their teeth. We had to set a rule that they couldn’t do their jobs until mom and dad were awake. But they are still excited each day to have all their jobs “closed.”

Hope it works well for you too!

Don’t forget to share! —

Danielle is the owner of Today's the Best Day. She strives to provide creative and uplifting content in order to enrich the parenting experience for women everywhere. Danielle hopes to help you and your family to make every day the best day!

March 5, 2014 by Danielle Davis | 6 Comments