Age Appropriate Chores for Children

It is amazing what young children take joy in doing. Here is a list of age appropriate chores for children.

Some people might read these lists and not believe it is possible. But if you would like your child to not only do these chores, but enjoy contributing to the household, follow these tips:

Never force the child – you can do these alongside each other or step in when they need help
Look for child-sized brooms, mops and utensils to give the greatest success
Slow down taking time to show your child how to do these tasks
Keep your movements slow, and limit talking at the same time – makes it easier for them to copy you
Makes chores around the house lots more fun if there is a little one alongside trying it out too
Let go of perfection – you may find that the spill is not completely wiped up, there is water at the bottom of the pot plant etc.
Scaffold skills – start with one step at a time and build on it
Enjoy yourselves – if it starts to feel like hard work, come back to it in a couple of weeks

To download as a pdf, click here. For a black & white version, click here.

Montessorians often don’t refer to these as chores. We like to include children in our daily life and these skills are usually called practical life skills. But chores is the name most people commonly use. Hope no-one is offended either way.

Also, it probably doesn’t need to be said, but to make it abundantly clear, these activities are to be supervised by an adult. And the adult in some cases would help finish off, for example, brushing the teeth with a toddler.

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