Chores Archives - Homeschool Creations

FREE Preschool Chore Charts – Subscriber Freebie

Mar102015

March 10, 2015 by Jolanthe 61 Comments

Younger children can have a hard time reading from a chore list. Picture cards can be a huge help at the preschool age so kids can see what needs to be done each day – and actually work on their daily chores (grins).

Our kids have learned personal and financial responsibility in the process as they are taught how to save, give, and put money in their wallet for spending too!

While I’ve shared a version of our preschool chore charts in the past, I recently found some wonderful clip art that included a few bonus chores and was also cute – a win-win!

These charts have been some of the most popular downloads here and I’ve received many emails with requests for extra chores, so I put together a FREE Preschool Chore Chart printable especially for my email subscribers – yay!!

Are you already an email subscriber? Please go to this private page and enter the NEW password. You can find the password in your most current email at the very bottom. Become a subscriber HERE and receive instant access.

When Kaleb was younger, this is the chore chart that we used for him and it worked wonderfully. (And to tell you the truth – he still prefers this visual chore chart over our chore charts for the older kids!) We broke his chore chart into three parts: morning chores, afternoon chores, and chores that he could earn money on.

He earned minimal money, but our point in paying for a few chores is to help our kids understand the concept of giving, saving, and spending. Pennies were excitement to our kids at that age (they think they are rich!), so it was a great way to learn.

The chore charts and chore cards can be printed off on to cardstock and laminated to make them sturdier. Place velcro dots in the center of each square and on the back of each chore cards to make them stick to the chore chart. (See below for additional ways to use the printables).

Using the Chore Charts

Each morning I added chore cards to his chart. When a chore was completed, he would remove it and put it in a little box nearby. Chores he completed to earn money were tracked on the back of the chart by writing with a Sharpie (the Sharpie comes off easily with nail polish remover or you can use a vis-à-vis marker as well).

The cards are the same size as my workbox activity cards, so if you want to mix and match those cards with this grid, they will work together.

Daily Chores for Preschool

We kept it pretty simple for our preschool chores. Above is a peek at some of the things that we had on Kaleb’s chore chart. Many of the chores rotated throughout the week, but there were several that were consistent on a daily basis.

Daily chores: make bed, clean room, brush teeth, pick-up clothes, pick up shoes/hang up jacket, set table, wash table, devotions.
Extra {paid} chores: trash, vacuum, laundry, wash windows, dust, sweep, water plants, weed garden.

If you need help coming up with chore ideas, here is a great list from Money Saving Mom to help you out.

Tips for an Effective Chore System

Make sure chores are age appropriate. Children can be taught to complete household tasks, but there are some things that are definitely more difficult for younger children to work on vs. older children. Be sure that the chores you are asking your very young children are appropriate for their age. Younger children can help sweep, push a vacuum cleaner, pick up toys, match socks, etc… but may not be ready for other chores. Just because a chore card is listed, doesn’t mean it has to be used. (grins)
Keep the chore charts handy – and where they can be seen. Hang your charts somewhere where they will be seen daily – the front of the fridge, near the bedroom door. Where ever they are, be sure to keep them handy so both you and your child remember to work on them.
Walk through how the charts work with your kids. Be sure to show your kids how the chore chart will work each day. Do they need to check in with you when they are done and have you go over their work? Have the system in place
Know what works best as incentives for your kids. Some children may work for treats from the Dollar Tree, while others may work for small monetary prizes. The incentives are up to you – and you know what works best for your children!
Be consistent in payout of incentives. It is so easy to let things slide, but if you are working with your kids in understanding that no work = no pay, remember that it goes the same the other way too. When you work, your boss pays you, so pick a ‘payday’ and take care of it each week or whenever you set up your payday.

Washing dishes is always fun….

And making beds…

Additional Ways to Use the Chore Charts

Rather than using a large chart, there are a few alternate ways that the chore charts can be used.

Use a jump ring: The cards can be printed off on cardstock, laminated, and then put onto a jump ring so children can carry them around while working. The printable includes a few alternative cards that can be placed on the jump ring as well: morning chores, afternoon chores, paid, chores, etc…

Use magnetic sheets: If you have a magnetic refrigerator, consider printing the chore cards off onto magnetic sheets, cutting them out, and placing chores on your fridge. Store finished or extra chores in a magnetic pencil bin nearby. We have friends that do this and it is so handy!

Download the Preschool Chore Charts

The chore chart file has five different colored charts: blue, green, pink, purple and white {so you can print on colored cardstock if you would like} and also includes chore cards. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. :)

If you aren’t on the paid chore bandwagon, there is a white chart with an alternate text of morning, afternoon, and evening.

This is a FREE download for subscribers – and it is really easy to subscribe by simply clicking HERE, or by entering your email in the box at the bottom of this post.

After you subscribe by email, you will receive a confirmation. Once you confirm your subscription, you will be redirected to a page with a link, password, and directions to get your FREEBIE!! You can always email me if you have any questions and I’d be happy to help you out.

In case you missed them before, you can also download a copy of our Chore Chart Printables for our older kids and see how we’re implementing that system in our house. There may also be extra cards for you to use in the workbox activity cards.

Hope this helps you out and feel free to ask any questions below!

Chore Chart Supplies

The following products are ones that we use and recommend for putting your chore charts together – the Scotch laminator ROCKS!! I’ve had mine for years and it is still going!

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Filed Under: Chores, Kindergarten, Organizing, PreK and K Community, Preschool Corner, Preschool Printables, Printables 61 Comments

Preschool Chore Charts

Aug192010

August 19, 2010 by Jolanthe 64 Comments

NOTE: The preschool chore charts have been updated! You can see the new version with updated clip art and additional chore cards here. Feel free to read the post below too!

Our chore charts for the older kids are working well, but since Kaleb can’t read yet I made his a little more ‘preschool’ friendly and used picture cards to help him see what he needed to do. The cards are the same size as my workbox activity cards, so if you want to mix and match those cards with this grid, they will work together.

Kaleb’s chore chart is broken up into three parts: morning chores, afternoon chores and chores to earn money. He earns minimal money, but we’re working on starting early with the giving, saving, spending concept. The boy gets excited with pennies…so it’s all good! :)

The chart is laminated and there are velcro dots in each of the squares below. This chart is also the same size as his daily workbox grid and is on a jump/key ring along with his workbox cards. Each of his chore cards attach with the velcro.

I do have to re-stock his chore chart every morning and for now we are just pulling off the cards when he completes his chores {until I come up with a better plan. I am keeping track of the chores he has earned by writing on the back of the chart with a Sharpie and erasing it weekly.

We are keeping it pretty simple for his ‘chores’. Here’s a peek at some of the things that we have on his chore chart. Some of the chores rotate throughout the week, but there are several that are consistent on a daily basis.

Kaleb’s daily chores: make bed, clean room, brush teeth, pick-up clothes, pick up shoes/hang up jacket, set table, wash table, devotions.

Kaleb’s extra {paid} chores: trash, vacuum, laundry, wash windows, dust, sweep, water plants, weed garden.

He loves helping wash dishes….

And helping make his bed…

You can download a copy of the preschool chore charts by either clicking the thumbnail picture or on this link. The chore chart file has five different colored charts: blue, green, pink, purple and white {so you can print on colored cardstock if you would like} and also includes chore cards. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. :)

Hope this helps you out!

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Filed Under: Chores, Early Learning Printables, Preschool Printables Tagged With: revamp 64 Comments

Our Chore System & Chore Charts for Kids Printables

Aug122010

August 12, 2010 by Jolanthe 65 Comments

Looking for chore charts for kids? Read along and I’ll be sharing some free printables for you all to use with your family!

We’ve had our new chore chart system in place for about a month now and so far it’s working well for us. In the past we have tried to use the chore system from Managers of Their Homes…but cards started getting lost, the younger ones had trouble getting them in and out of the pouches and overall it just didn’t work as well for us as I had envisioned.

I also want to explain a little bit of the ‘why’ behind our chore chart system and how we’re implementing it in our household. You may {or may not} agree with our reasoning…and that’s ok, but this has developed after a lot of talking and merging of different ideas.

The full page chore chart goes along with our Weekly Workbox System Grid and is the same size, so it fits as the top page of the set and hangs on the wall.

The Basics of the Chore Chart System

In life there are things that we do on a day-to-day basis that are unpaid and things that result {generally} in a paycheck. Rick mows the lawn, does upkeep on the house, takes out the trash…but other than a thanks from me, it’s an unpaid job. :) He has a paid job that involves him showing up to work on time, completing certain tasks, etc… Neither of us want our children growing up thinking that money is just handed to them.

We want our kids to develop a good work ethic and understand the balance between work and pay ~ if you don’t work, you don’t get paid. If you DO work, there are benefits to that. We also want them to learn how to budget their money and manage it before they are in their teens or 20s and don’t have a clue what to do.

The system that we’re using has two parts: expected chores and paid chores. The two sets go hand in hand though. The expected chores need to be done in order for the paid chores to get paid out. That means that no money is earned unless the basic chores are completed {and Mommy checks to make sure they are done!}.

There are certain things that we expect our kids to do around the house because they are members of the household ~ making of beds, picking up of rooms, etc… Those are the basic chores. Each of our kids has a set of 3 morning expected morning chores and 3 afternoon/evening chores.

Our chore charts are attached to our Weekly Workbox Grid and hang on the wall so the kids have easy access to them. They are laminated and have check boxes next to each of the chores so I can check off with a Sharpie when they have completed a chore {and remove the Sharpie marks later with nail polish remover}.

The last column is the “Today I Earned” column where we they can see how much they earned that day. Payday is Saturday and Sunday is a day of rest and no earning. :)

Laurianna’s Chore Chart

Each of the kids has 3 additional chores a day that will earn them money. The money varies from child to child ~ the older they get and the more ‘responsible’ the chore is, they earn a little extra…but we’re still cheap!

They cannot earn the money unless they complete their daily chores {i.e. if they miss one of the daily chores, no cash even if they complete all of the ones they can earn on}. It might seem a little harsh, but the kids are quickly learning the importance of completing what has been put in front of them!

The Chores

Here’s a list of the daily/expected chores that we have for the kids on their charts. They obviously have other things they need to do during the day, but these are the key things we chose to focus on and they may change out if we are having difficulty with certain things being done. For example, oral hygiene is high on the list for a certain 5 year old….

Laurianna {age 9}: make bed/pick-up room, water plants, devotions, pick-up school stuff, clean up basement {family room}, shoes/jacket away, clean off dresser and under bed

McKenna {age 7}: same as above

Zachary {age 5}: make bed/pick-up room, brush teeth, devotions, pick-up school stuff, clean up basement/family room, shoes/jacket away, clean under bed

Kaleb {age 3}: make bed, pick-up room, devotions, wipe table/chairs, pick-up basement/family room, shoes/jacket away

The paid chores change daily, and again there are things that the kids are still expected to do {like put away their laundry}, but these are the extra paid chores by child.

Laurianna: Clean out bathroom sink, start load of laundry, vacuum basement and spare room, clean toilets, dust living room, and yardwork {25 cents a chore, max of 75 cents day}.

McKenna: Wash breakfast table, laundry from washer to dryer, vacuum bedroom, wash bathroom mirror, clean bathroom counters, and yardwork {20 cents a chore, max of 60 cents day}.

Zachary: Load the dishwasher, clothes out of dryer, clean out the van, vacuum bedroom, wash patio door, wash bathroom mirror/clean walls, and yardwork {15 cents a chore, max of 45 cents day}.

Kaleb: Help sort dirty clothes & help start laundry {with Laurianna}; vacuum living room & kitchen; empty bathroom trash; wash patio door; help with dishes; and yardwork {10 cents a chore, max of 30 cents day}.

Payday

Saturday is payday at our house because there aren’t any chores that earn money on Sunday. When we pay the kids for their chores, we also divide out the money that they have earned as follows: 20% giving {we want them to be generous from the start!}, 40% savings and 40% spending.

Rick and I are huge fans of Dave Ramsey and have led his Financial Peace class at our church several times because we have experienced first hand the importance of being debt free. We were deeply in debt {not including our house} to the tune of almost $65,000 around the time Zachary was born. We got serious about paying off that debt {gazelle intensity as Dave would say} and paid it all off in 19 months!

We made many dumb money mistakes over the years and really want to teach our children how to deal with money now while we can ~ so they don’t repeat the same mistakes that we made. If you are interested, I would highly recommend the book Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. That was a bunny trail, but I think it’s important that you also understand a little more of the why behind what we do!

The Chore Charts

Obviously your house and chores may not line up with what we have listed, but if you’d like to use the grid that I made, you can download the blank chore chart templates, write in your chores and then laminate them to use. The Chore Chart printables have 5 pages, all the same format, just different colors ~ purple, pink, blue, green and white.