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Teaching Kids How to Work – Printable Chore Chart

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I feel like the society we live in does not exactly promote the value of hard work.  We have easy lives and so many things that make life so pampered. I want to share with you tips for teaching kids how to work. Family chores are an important part of our family culture. We have a weekly chore chart system that has been working really well for us for a while now. It’s been the perfect solution for the whole family.

Teaching Kids How to Work from Teach Beside Me

Tips for Teaching Kids How to Work:

I’ll start with a book I read recently that inspired all of the change in how our chore system works.  The book, Your Children Will Whistle While They Work by James J. Jones is an oldie, but really great!  This book gives tips for motivation, age-appropriate chores, why work is important, and outlines a fabulous system of chores that has worked so well for us.

Children work

Motivating Kids to Work:

An important part of teaching kids to work is motivation.  So, how do we motivate kids to want to work?  Here is a simple formula. Need=Motivation & Motivation=Action.

If kids have a need to satisfy, they will be motivated to work to make it happen. Kids have lots of needs, most of which we as parents should supply, but some of their “needs” (like a toy they are dying to buy, a pair of shoes they really want, a candy bar or soda at the store) can be bought with their own money. Depending on how much you choose to pay them, you can have them purchase most of their clothes, gifts, and other things you are already buying for them.  It is so important to teach kids a sense of responsibility!  If they have to work to earn their wants & some of their needs, they will learn that things do not all come for free in this life.

Chores for Kids:

What we have done to teach our family members how to work is create a weekly chore chart that gives them points for accomplishing each task. If they do not finish the task, they do not earn the points.  This chore chart works well for young children and older children. There are weekly chores and daily chores included. When kids learn to complete chores each day they are learning time management, work ethic, and other valuable life skills! Kids feel such a sense of accomplishment when they accomplish their list of chores.

For certain household chores and tasks that affect the rest of the family if they are not accomplished (i.e. dishes, cleaning the bathroom), they get negative points for not accomplishing them.  Points equal money. 10 points = 10 cents. They can also earn extra points for helping a sibling with a task or having a good attitude. This form can easily be edited and you can decide how many points each thing is worth indoor home.

Their points have to be marked and the daily tasks must be approved by me at the end of each day or they do not count. At the end of each week, we total all of them and pay them what they have earned. Then we work together to divide out their money into savings and spendings. Their spending money they can use to buy all of those extras that they want and I do not want to buy. I don’t let them spend it ALL on candy or toys, though.  You can download this printable chore chart template below. I like to give kids a weekly allowance, but only if they do some work to earn it!

editable chore chart for kids

I have a simple editable printable chore chart showing how our system works. You are welcome to use it and edit it to fit your family’s needs. You can see that they vary a little for each of my kids. My 4-year-old is not able to do the same amount and type of chores as my 10-year-old. However, he is very capable of doing many chores already. You can assign each of your kids their own age-appropriate tasks.   As you can see it includes parts of our daily routine on it as well as household tasks. Chores can be customized and assigned a day of the week.

Download the Free Printable Family Chore Chart Now!

You can use any reward system that works for your family, but this is what we have been using. You could also award kids extra screen time instead of money.

This chore chart template could be kept digitally, or printed and laminated, to use with a dry erase marker.

Chores for Younger Kids:

You can even teach little kids how to work!  My 4-year-old is involved in a lot of the work around the house, but he still needs guidance and assistance. He helps with dishes, unloading the dishwasher, washing windows, putting away his laundry, wiping the kitchen counters and table, setting the table, emptying small trash cans, and picking up toys.

messy window cleaning

A funny story about my little guy. He is in charge of washing the windows on our sliding glass door. One day, he did it without any assistance. He got out a bottle of cleaner, that happened to be leather cleaner. This stuff is GREASY!  Kids always spray way too much on the windows. It took a lot of paper towels to get that window cleaned!

e-cloth chemical-free cleaning for kids

Right after that incident, I was contacted by e-cloth to see if I wanted to do a review of their products. I got to choose one of their products to try. I thought of my little one and decided to try their window cleaning set.  We loved it!

teaching kids to work

See More Parenting Ideas:

Screen Time for Kids: Printable Tech Time Tokens

50+ Random Acts of Kindness Kids Can Do

Natural ADHD Support for Kids

Fun Sunday Family Activities

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6 Comments

  1. we have a “happy heart” chart that my kids earn a sticker for doing set tasks that need to happen everyday without being asked by an adult & with a happy attitude. but, for things that are not daily, like helping dust, take sheets off their beds, vacuuming, blowing off the pack porch, etc. i am going to use your chart!!! we will start it this summer when our school load is less & have it rockin’ come fall!!!!

    i have been looking for this & am so thankful i found it this morning!

    also, my son (almost 8) is going to be overjoyed at the periodic table battleship & my daughter (just 4) is going to love the make your own adventure story starters! (she is not writing that fluently yet, but will LOVE making up & telling stories with it!)

    thank you for all the time you take to share these activities!

  2. What kind of format are the links? They aren’t working for me. Thanks! Do you have any other charts for the token economy? Trying to save myself some time.

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