In Montessori education, practical life (daily living) activities are some of the most important activities. Not only do they help children develop order, concentration, coordination, and independence, but they help children learn to contribute to their families and communities. Today, I’ll be sharing some age-appropriate chores in lists and free printables from around the blogosphere.
Older babies and young toddlers can start learning care-of-the-environment activities. Cleaning activities are fun at that age and the perfect time for children to start contributing to the family chores, even if the result is much less than perfect.
In Montessori, we don’t recommend using rewards or punishments. (Read “A Montessori Approach to Praise” for more information.) If you demonstrate how to do chores and make them a regular part of your child’s life from an early age, ideally your child will do chores as a natural part of contributing to the family. My now-adult children did, and it was wonderful.
Age-Appropriate Chores for Children (with Free Printables)
Here are some great ideas for age-appropriate chores. Each link has a free printable download available. You’ll notice there are definitely some variations among chore lists. As in everything, it’s most important that you find the chores that are age appropriate for your unique children.
And, of course, your children aren’t expected to do every chore on a list. Just find what works for your family.
Age-Appropriate-Chores-for-Children (Image from The Flanders Family Website)
Age-Appropriate Chores for Children (the chore chart that’s been all over Facebook and Pinterest) from The Flanders Family Website. This free printable is available in English, Spanish, and Italian.
Age Appropriate Chores for Kids (Image from The Happy Housewife)
Age-Appropriate Chores for Kids from The Happy Housewife
Chores by Age (Image from Your Modern Family)
Age Appropriate Chores for Young Children from Your Modern Family
Age-Appropriate Chores for Children (Image from The Modest Mom) Age Appropriate Chores for Children from The Modest Mom Blog
Age Appropriate Chores for Children (12 months-4 years) from The Montessori Notebook
Age Appropriate Chores/Skills from Cranial Hiccups
Age Appropriate Chores (Image from Sports Mom Survival Guide)
Why Our Kids Should Do Age Appropriate Chores from Sports Mom Survival Guide
Age-Appropriate Chores for Kids from Bitz & Giggles
Montessori Practical Life Age Chart (Image from Natural Beach Living)
Montessori Practical Life Age Chart from Natural Beach Living
Chore Ideas for Kids (Image from Money Saving Mom)
Chore Ideas for Kids from Money Saving Mom
Age-Appropriate Chores (Image from Simply Kierste
Why Our Children Have Chores + An Age Appropriate Chores Guideline from Simply Kierste
I hope you found these helpful!
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I love all of these great chore charts. Thanks for including Natural Beach Living 🙂
Thanks for sharing – we already incorporate many of these chores, but I see a few more we can add to the rotation!
Hi Deb,
Great round up. So fun to see my infographic included. Thanks!
Best,
Simone
It is interesting the variation in what children can do. I could see a task on one chart at age 5 and on another chart not until age 7. And as I was reading them, I was thinking, yes my girls can do that or no, they don’t seem to be able to do it.
I think these are nice to have as a baseline, but no one should ever feel that their child isn’t measuring up because they can’t do a task or two (or three or four) on any “list.”
I love reading list like this because I always get new chore ideas. While I like me kids to help out and do chores I often forget to share household chores with them. Like cleaning the fridge and how else will they learn?
Thank you!
It’s so true that we need to implement responsibility into our children early on.
I have 3 sons-2, 3 and 4 years old. Since the year I teach children to help around the house and self-care. I use the Manini app for three children. It’s like printed chores cards, but in a phone. In the app, you can mark the completion of tasks, and children like it very much. And the app has a goal Board that lists all household chores and self-care for children under 5. The older child can already do almost everything, that is, almost 40 skills)