Chore Charts
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Growing up, my mom was the chore chart queen. She had books full of chore charts that she would photo copy and we would color and laminate them.
The Happy Carrot Family, or the Busy Beehive were some of our little motivators.
She passed the books on to me- I've never seen her struggle so hard to part with anything! She loved these books and teaching us to work. We'd take turns picking out the chart we wanted, and she'd run over to Kinko's to make the copies so we could color and personalize them. She did such a great job. We love these books, too, as cheesey as they are.The kids always seem to think it's fun and fresh, especially when they were little.
I still bring them out for special occasions, but a simple list chore chart is what has been working the best for us the past few years, and definitely easier to keep up with.
Here is what we do:
I created basic list style charts in different colors for each child, with their names on them, and then printed them. At one point I put them in sheet protectors, but I've started laminating them, and it keeps them in better shape. They’re easy to write on with an expo marker, and I love those Mr. Clean magic erasers to wipe them off with.
You’ll notice some jobs are printed on there, those are daily. Tasks such as saying their prayers, reading their scriptures, reading homework, piano practice, etc. They also have a kitchen job every day, but the particular job varies.
The way I assign the chore can depend on the child’s after school activities, age, or it can depend on what I need done most urgently, or maybe I have a little more time to do some job training for my younger ones that day, so they might have a harder job on their chart.
Sometimes I split the chores up by morning and afternoon, depending on our schedule.
Then there are those days that are just going to be those crazy busy days, so we cut back and simplify and catch up when we can.
So, if this looks like a system you'd like to try out, go ahead and enjoy our free printable charts.
Just click on the color link you like below, and print.
