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If your household is anything like mine, your kids groan and complain as soon as you tell them to put away the dishes or take out the garbage. While most of us consider chores the purview of older kids like tweens and teens, even young children and toddlers can participate! My kids are in grades kindergarten through 6th, and everyone — yes, even the kindergartener — is expected to pitch in and keep our home livable. Read on for some easy chores for kids.
** easy chores for kids
Why doing chores is important, even for the youngest
Teaching our children practical life skills can help build their fine and gross motor skills, spatial and coordination, and support school readiness. Plus it’s essential to helping our kids eventually become independent adults.
“A kindergartener is starting to have good self-help skills, including putting on clothes and bathing,” pediatrician Steph Lee, MD, MPH, FAAP told Mom.com. “Chores at home may mirror tasks in kindergarten, such as hanging up clothes or putting away toys. Practicing these at home will ensure good behavior in school as well,” added the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) spokesperson.
“I have a soon to be first grader and one starting Pre-K,” working mom Rachel Nishiyama told Mom.com. “They’re expected to bring dishes to the sink, wipe down the table, clean up toys, wipe down/clean stairs. Sometimes the older one vacuums. We don’t do allowance yet but they do collect our cans for recycling and keep the money from that.”
Here are some chores that can reinforce the skills they’re learning in school:
1. Sorting clothes or toys
Whether it’s separating colors and whites for the wash, separating toys mixed together, or utensils — these activities help your child learn how to sort and categorize items.
2. Dress themselves
While this might not sound like a chore — it kind of is! It’s a repetitive task that needs to be done and usually, it’s you — but now it’s on them. Make sure their clothes are all within reach and be prepared for some truly unusual combinations.
Tips on how to get kids to do chores
Of course, we can talk all we want about kids doing chores — but how do we get the kids to comply?
Break down a task step-by-step
Many times, kids don’t do a chore simply because they do not know how to. Break down a chore and over-explain. Things that seem obvious to you aren’t actually obvious to kindergarteners!
There is a learning curve
Just like when you learn a new task or skill, sometimes, it takes time for your kids to learn. Also, remember that some tasks don’t need to be done exactly the way you want it done. Allow your child to do things their way.
Here are some chores that may seem simple but actually require some instruction:
3. Putting things away
Whether it’s hanging up a jacket or returning their toys or household items to the rightful locations — even putting away groceries — there are lots of steps! Kids have to not only identify what it is they are putting away, they also have to know where, how to do it safely, and know when to ask for help.
4. Pulling weeds
While this doesn’t initially seem as if it requires much instruction at all — after all, your kid is just pulling weeds, right? But before they can, you have to teach them what are the plants you want to keep, how to identify a weed, how to pull a weed properly so the roots don’t stay in the ground and just sprout up again, how to safely dispose of the weeds, and where to put the weeds when they’re done pulling them.
Easy chore list for kids
Kindergarteners are generally curious and love to learn by emulating adults and bigger kids — so it how to do “big kid” things. With all that preamble out of the way, here are some simple tasks for your kindergartener chore list.
5. Taking out the trash
This task is my favorite to make kids do. It has made my life infinitely better. “My kindergartner has to collect all the trash and throw it in the trash can,” Nancy Hu Lu told Mom.com. “He has to haul the big trash can to and from the curb.” Bringing the garbage bins in after can also be a chore!
6. Sorting mail
Raise your hand if you enjoy sorting spam from bills from actual mail? No? Well, teach your kids how to sort mail over the recycle bin and you will only see the important stuff from now on.
7. Watering plants
Your kindergartener is totally big enough to use a spray bottle or watering can to water a plant. It’s also incredibly soothing and you may cultivate a lifelong love of plants.
While there are lots of good reasons for children to do chores, getting some “help” around the house is the real bonus. So, here’s to making our lives a little bit easier all while teaching our kids responsibility.
