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Living Well Mom

I help moms with simple, natural ways to look after their families. Find recipes, fun stuff for kids, and simple DIY ideas. Plus natural solutions made easy peasy!

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The Best Chores for Kids (Broken Down by Age)

By Erika in Activities for Kids

In a busy household, it often needs to be all hands on deck. And yes, that includes the little hands too! Age-appropriate chores for kids allow your children the opportunity to contribute to the household while developing a work ethic and life skills that will serve them for decades to come.

That being said, it can be hard to know what chores are right for children. You need to take into account your child’s age, skill set, and temperament when dolling out assignments—every child is different!

But I’ve put together a list of practical ideas and a list of chores to help you get started. Plus, I also have a free chore chart that you can download to get organized.

practical ideas for how to get kids to do chores (+ free printable) this idea now...

Why Chores for Kids are a Great Idea

Now that school is out, we moms are faced with a dilemma: how do we keep the kids busy this summer?

While summer camp and fun activities are great, it’s good for kids to have free time to use their imaginations too. Of course, you do sometimes get whining kids who are “bored.”

In my house, my kids know that if Mom hears “I’m bored!” they will quickly find themselves with something to do that almost always involves chores.

Because I firmly believe that all kids should do chores. Even toddlers can help with simple tasks.

Why?

Doing chores helps teach kids responsibility.

They learn a work ethic – by working hard, you are rewarded. And by helping out, kids are taking ownership of their role as a member of the family.

Together, we keep our household running. It’s not solely on Mom or Dad’s shoulders. We all eat, sleep, play, and work, from young children to teenagers and everyone in between.

That’s the other thing I love about teaching kids to do chores – you’ll share many special moments as you work together!

Today, I’ll share a few practical ideas for getting kids to do chores and what my own kids do in hopes of encouraging you to get yours more involved around the house.

I do a couple of different things to organize the chores for the kids in our house. There are daily chores, zone chores, laundry, and cleaning.

child standing next to mop

Daily Age-Appropriate Chores for Kids

Each of my kids has their own chores they do every day.

Toddlers and Young Children

Yes, even children as young as 2 and 3 can help pitch in around the house. While it won’t be as effective and “helpful” as you may want, it’s building the foundation for years to come.

At four years old, my son Luke’s daily chores were quite varied. Here are a few chore ideas that are perfect for ages 2-5:

  • Making the bed
  • Picking up their room
  • Picking up toys
  • Feeding the dog
  • Clearing and wiping off the table after meals
  • Assisting with simple meal prep, such as stirring batter or adding ingredients to a bowl (with close adult supervision)
  • Wiping up spills with a damp cloth
  • Sorting laundry into piles (lights and darks, for example) with guidance
  • Dusting low surfaces, such as coffee tables or shelves within reach
  • Throwing away trash or recycling items in a designated bin

Chores for Elementary-Aged Kids

As kids get older, their skills and abilities increase, and so does their chore list! At ages six and eight, my children Joshua and Emily’s daily chores included:

  • Making the bed
  • Cleaning up their rooms
  • Giving water to the animals in our care – our dog, rabbits, and chickens
  • Sweeping the kitchen and dining room after meals
  • Clearing and wiping off the kitchen counters after cooking
  • Assisting with meal prep, such as measuring ingredients or mixing batter
  • Loading and unloading the dishwasher (with supervision)
  • Dusting surfaces throughout the house
  • Watering plants both indoors and outdoors
  • Taking out the trash and recycling
  • Helping with yard work, such as raking leaves or pulling weeds
  • Putting away clean laundry – in fact, I think every kid should help with laundry (here’s why!)

Chores for Teens and Tweens

By the time your children reach their teenage years, they should be able to take on more responsibility. My son Nathan was doing many of these chores by age 12, including:

  • Making their own bed (and making sure it looks nice!)
  • Vacuuming or mopping floors throughout the house
  • Cleaning bathrooms, including cleaning the shower
  • Doing laundry from start to finish
  • Washing dishes – I recommend grabbing non-scratch scouring pads to keep your pans looking great
  • Taking out trash and recycling
  • Meal preparation and cooking meals (with supervision)
  • Doing yard work such as mowing the lawn or trimming hedges
  • Running errands, such as going to the store for groceries or picking up a prescription
  • Caring for pets – from feeding them to taking them on walks
  • Clean the bathroom
  • Cleaning the microwave – this is the EASIEST way to do it!

Zone Chores

I use zone chores in conjunction with my chore sticks system, and it works fantastic!

free printable chore chart

Beyond the daily individual chores, there are other areas in the house that need to be picked up every day. I started our “Zone Chores” chore chart for kids about a year ago, and it’s worked out really well.

The idea is to split up areas of the house into zones.

Each child is assigned one zone that they are responsible for every day for a week. Every week, the zones are rotated, and everyone has a new zone.

This system works really well because the kids all take turns, and no one gets frustrated with doing the same thing day after day.

Another helpful advantage is that you can adjust the zones anytime you need to.

zone chores printable

There are three “zones” in our house:

  • Zone 1 is our living room – this includes picking up the floor, couch, the family computer desk area, windowsills, and the TV stand.
  • Zone 2 is downstairs – this includes our entryway, the guest bathroom, the outside porch, and the basement stairs.
  • Zone 3 is upstairs – this includes the stairs, hallway, and kids’ bathroom.

Here’s our Zone Chores Chart that we hang on our family command center where everyone can see it:

chore chart for kids hung in family command center

We rotate the zones among Nathan, Emily, and Joshua (Luke isn’t quite old enough to be responsible for a zone himself). They each get one zone for one week, then I switch them around.

Free Downloadable Zone Chore Chart

You’re going to love how simple and effective this chore chart for kids is!

Right-click and save the image below to download your free printable Zone Chore Chart for kids.

Get a free printable Chore Chart for Kids, plus find practical ideas for getting kids to do chores!

Note: No, my handwriting is not that neat. I added our zone chore info text using PicMonkey. You can do the same by uploading the file. Have fun!

Other Chores Kids Can Do

Here are a few other ideas for ways kids of all ages can help around the house.

Laundry

My kids all help with laundry, and everyone, including Luke, puts away their own laundry. We have a super simple system for organizing kids’ clothes, so they all know where to put their items!

girl putting clothes into drye

Nathan and Emily do their own laundry completely independently. 

About a year ago, I was sick of the kids throwing clean or barely worn clothes into the dirty clothes basket because they were too lazy to put them away. So I taught them how to do their own laundry. 

Hot tip: I enthusiastically called it a super cool “privilege” to run the washing machine and dryer, and they were very excited at first. Now, the novelty has worn off, but they still do it every week!

organization bin for kids clothes
boy folding a shirt
chores for kids: putting away laundry

While Josh and Luke aren’t old enough to do it completely by themselves, they help me bring the laundry basket downstairs and load clothes into the washer and dryer.

Cleaning

My younger boys help with dusting, cleaning windows, and wiping off bathroom counters while Nathan and Emily vacuum the carpet around the house and clean the bathrooms.

I usually do the rest of the cleaning, though I occasionally enlist a helper or two if I’m super busy.

I even enlisted my son to clean our microfiber couch after he used it as a scribbling pad with pens. Thankfully, all the stains came out!

To keep things easy, I have used this all-purpose essential oil cleaner for years. It’s all-natural, so I feel confident in letting my teens and older kids use it on their own.

boy cleaning couch with scrub brush

Mopping

I have one new chore for Nathan and Emily that they’ve started the last two weeks. Believe it or not, they actually argue over who gets to do it!

What is this magical chore, you ask?

It’s mopping the floor with our awesome O-Cedar EasyWring Spin Mop & Bucket System.

I have literally used this mop for EIGHT YEARS. It is simply the best one out there! Just swap out the mop heads when they get gross, then keep on cleaning!

mopping chores for kids

Seriously, if you want an effective fast way to clean your floors, get one of these mops. And it’s so easy, even (older) kids can do it.

Emily can fill up the bucket to the easy-to-see fill line and mop all by herself. And she loves it.

girl with mop

The other day, she surprised me by mopping all my wood and linoleum floors with the O-Cedar EasyWring Spin Mop & Bucket System all by herself. She did a great job!

kid doing household chores

Kids of any age can and should do chores. Get them involved and watch them be proud of the work they did. It’s a great thing for your entire family!

teach responsibility with chores for kids (ideas by age)

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    Filed Under: Activities for Kids, For Moms, Parenting Published on June 27, 2023

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    About Erika

    Erika Bragdon is a flower essence practitioner and a second-generation homeschooling mom with 3 kids at home and 1 in college. She enjoys her chickens, goats, and gardening on a small farm in New Hampshire, and is passionate about sharing flower essences and more ways to renew body, mind, and soul with moms.

    Comments

    1. dawn says

      July 6, 2015 at 12:43 pm

      This is such a good idea! I love the little ones cleaning outfit! LOL Those boots!!!!!

      Reply
    2. Dawn says

      July 6, 2015 at 12:56 pm

      These are great ideas. Chores are a big part of teaching kids to be a contributing member to the household and to society.

      Reply
    3. Jennifer says

      July 6, 2015 at 12:59 pm

      I started my daughter off with chores as soon as she was old enough to help do anything. Chores are a great way to teach responsibility. I think the zone idea is great!

      Reply
    4. Jocelyne Alldrick says

      July 6, 2015 at 3:54 pm

      I love this!
      We have a list of fifty chores and my three kids (11, 9 & 8) have to choose five per day..once chores are done, they get electronics
      My husband laughs when he hears them fighting over who is going to vacuum…lol
      Smartest idea i ever came up with 🙂

      Reply
    5. Kimberly D says

      July 6, 2015 at 4:36 pm

      Wonderful idea!!! Love it that the kids fight over who gets to mop, our kids argue over mopping and vacuuming too (although that mop looks more fun than ours)! I love the Zone chart and how it breaks down exactly what each zone consists of. We do chore packs and my toddlers, ages 2 and 3, can hardly wait until they get to officially wear one! We were quite lazy with training our two oldest, and still struggle with getting them to do thorough jobs. I always thought it was just so much easier/quicker doing everything myself. We learned our lesson and started our now eight year old as well as our two toddlers as soon as they could walk. It makes such a difference.

      Reply
      • Erika says

        July 6, 2015 at 4:38 pm

        Good for you, Kimberly! It really does pay off in the long run.

        Reply
    6. Jeannette says

      July 6, 2015 at 6:19 pm

      I love the idea of zone chores! Both my boys have to keep their rooms straight but this would be a great way to get them helping out around the rest of the hosue! I can’t wait to try it out!

      Reply
    7. Robin (Masshole Mommy) says

      July 6, 2015 at 8:00 pm

      I have found that chore charts really do work with young kids. To them, it makes it kind of fun and almost like a game.

      Reply
    8. Mama to 5 BLessings says

      July 6, 2015 at 8:44 pm

      My kids have set chores and they know what days they have to do them on. So we really do not keep a chore chart but some kids need that for reminders.

      Reply
    9. Krista says

      July 6, 2015 at 9:30 pm

      Thank you for the chore chart! I just printed it for my daughter. It is so important for children to learn responsibility and do chores!

      Reply
    10. Autumn @Mamachallenge says

      July 6, 2015 at 9:37 pm

      I love this printable! Breaking chores down like that is a great way to get children to do them!

      Reply
    11. Liz Mays says

      July 6, 2015 at 10:42 pm

      I like the idea of breaking it down into manageable zones. The chart helps hold you accountable too!

      Reply
    12. Sarah @ Must Have Mom says

      July 6, 2015 at 10:58 pm

      I love the idea of zone chores! I’m going to try this out with my oldest 3!

      Reply
    13. Sabrina @ Dinner, then Dessert says

      July 7, 2015 at 12:07 am

      Teaching kids to do chores will prepare them for more responsibility in taking care of themselves and their other tasks!

      Reply
    14. Tammy Roy says

      July 7, 2015 at 1:10 am

      I have been giving my kids chores ever since they were old enough to help. It is important for kids to have a sense of responsibility. I will have to pick up a O-Cedar EasyWring Spin Mop & Bucket System.

      Reply
    15. Aubrey says

      July 7, 2015 at 3:04 am

      I wish I could get my kids to do chores. Every time I ask them to do anything it’s like WW3.

      Reply
    16. Nicole B says

      July 7, 2015 at 10:11 am

      That is so wonderful your kids are willing to do their chores every day. Mine are willing sometimes but usually grumble. I will say we have the O’Cedar mop and my 4 year old loves to help me mop because he likes to push the pedal on the bucket. LOL

      Reply
    17. Becca Wilson says

      July 7, 2015 at 10:46 am

      What an awesome way to get kids to clean up. The zone chart just makes it seem like more fun than barking orders 🙂

      Reply
    18. Maggie says

      March 22, 2017 at 12:12 am

      My husband and I have fought for 30 years over which type of mop is best! He prefers a cotton string janitor one that wrings out in the dirty water bucket. I prefer a sponge mop that can squeeze the extra water out while rinsing in the sink. I can see when the water runs clear. THIS MOP IS THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS!!! I love how well this mop cleans and it is so easy to use! Hubby gets his cotton string mop and I get my mop that can remove the excess water. The bonus is never having to put your hands into dirty mop water! Once the mopping is finished, I just pop off the mop head and toss it into the washer so it is clean and ready for the next time! This is by far the best mop I have ever used!

      Reply
    19. Amelie says

      June 15, 2020 at 5:51 am

      Thank you!
      It’s so true that we need to implement responsibility into our children early on.
      I have 3 sons-2, 3 and 4 years old. Since the year I teach children to help around the house and self-care. I use the Manini app for three children. It’s like printed chores cards, but in a phone. In the app, you can mark the completion of tasks, and children like it very much. And the app has a goal Board that lists all household chores and self-care for children under 5. The older child can already do almost everything, that is, almost 40 skills)

      Reply
      • Erika says

        June 20, 2020 at 4:02 pm

        I’ll have to check out that app. Thanks for the tip, Amelie!

        Reply

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