June 30, 2015

Chores and Responsibilities for the School-Aged Child + FREE Printables

As a mom to three children, two elementary age and one preschool, I can firsthand testify that our home runs more smoothly when everyone pitches in. As children grow older, their ability to contribute to household tasks and chores increases as well. If you haven’t included your children in tasks around the home or if you’re struggling to come up with age-appropriate tasks, you’ll love this post!

I recently featured a post full of all sorts of age appropriate, helpful tasks that the preschool age child can help with. Today I am featuring tasks and chores that are geared toward the elementary and up aged child. You will notice that quite a few of the tasks are similar to the preschool tasks with a twist, like not just matching socks and folding hand towels, but folding an entire load of laundry.

As you go through these tasks and determine what work for your child and household, keep in mind that there is a developmental difference between a young elementary aged child and an older child in middle school. While you may not expect your first grader to roll the garbage and recycling to the curb, it is certainly an appropriate task for a sixth grader. Pick and choose what is appropriate for your child or children and watch your home run that much more smoothly when you delegate tasks and chores.

Household Chores

• wipe baseboards/cupboards
• help sort laundry into whites and brights/darks
• help start and switch laundry loads
• help fold laundry
• help put away clean clothes
• clean windows with damp microfiber cloth
• pick up toys and activities, put books in bookshelf
• help unload groceries
• water plants
• take care of pets
• gather garbage
• take garbage and recycling to the curb
• get mail
• dust surfaces
• sweep floors
• vacuum corners and edges along baseboards
• vacuum floors using a lightweight upright
• clean clutter from bathroom counter
• wipe bathroom counter with dampened microfiber cloth
• wipe doorknobs and switch plates

Morning/Evening Chores

• brush teeth
• brush hair
• wipe face with a warm, wet washcloth after eating
• make bed- pull up comforter/duvet and flat sheet up and put pillow at the top
• put dirty clothes and pajamas in clothes basket
• get dressed in the morning and pajamas in the evening

Mealtime Chores

• simple mealtime prep help
• pour beverages
• set table with plates, glasses, napkins and appropriate silverware
• bring dirty dishes to sink when done eating
• put away leftovers
• rinse dishes before loading in to dishwasher
• load dishwasher (remove knives and sharp utensils until age appropriate)
• dry and put away dishes
• wipe down table
• sweep up crumbs using a small dustpan and broom or handheld vacuum

How about some FREE printables to make implementing responsibilities for school-aged children a little easier? I made 2 different simple chore charts and I also put the chores and responsibilities that I listed on a free printable. Grab the zip file with all 3 free printables here and save and print what you will use and get your child(ren) started with some simple and do-able responsibilities.

Here are a  few more ideas to encourage cleaning up – click on the images to go straight to the posts.

If you like these FREE printables you’ll love my HOMEKEEPING SOCIETY and the organizing printables in my shop!

This post is part of my SIMPLE SUMMER CHALLENGE – throughout the month I’m sharing ways to keep up with routines while having lots of fun in the process. Go here to see the introduction post, and here to see all the posts in this series. Make sure you’re following me on Instagram for more on this summer challenge!