I’d like to introduce a new idea to help organize your home: the Interactive Kid’s Chore Chart! I was previously using a handwritten chore chart, but I kept forgetting to pay my kids for their chores, and they would forget to write down when they completed one. I needed something more visual for everyone, and got this wonderful idea from a woman at my local homeschool mom’s night this month!
Click here to download the Chore Chart Cards
Supplies needed:
- Cardstock (for my printable cards, tickets, etc)
- Pocket Chart similar to the one in the photo.
- Reward Stickers
- Small Prize box (you can make this anything you like)
- NOTE: Pages 24-29 are black and white images if you prefer not to print color.
Instructions for Slots:
1. Card with child’s name
2. – 6. Mon – Fri Chore cards to be completed
7. Reward tickets earned, Sticker Sheets, Best“ Bee-havior” awards
8. Extra Cards can be kept in the bottom slots
Directions for Use:
Put the assigned Monday – Friday task cards in the 2nd – 6th slots. When a task is completed, your child can turn the card backwards and place behind the remaining task cards for the day. (I used one color for each day just to try and keep things straight)
At the end of the day, look to see which tasks are completed and switch them out with reward tickets. At the end of the day or week, allow your child to spend his tickets on items in a small prize box (gum, candy, erasers, pencils, 5 Minutes iphone time etc). Instead of a prize box, you could also choose to let your kids exchange their tickets for money, we pay $0.25/ticket. This way they can save their money for something they want to buy, we also encourage them to tithe and save some of that as well.
If your child completes all the assigned tasks in a day, they receive a sticker on the reward card in the 7th slot. Once that reward card is full, they can exchange it for something more special like larger prize box, I use things like mini-Lego sets, Pet-Shop’s, Polly Pockets, computer time, TV time, Wii Time etc. Really the prizes are up to you.
I also included “Best Bee-havior” cards that you can reward when your child has displayed a good attitude for the entire day, helping others, being kind to siblings, or anything else you deem as outstanding behavior. These are very special for our family and are handed out only for very good behavior. They can be redeemed for something fancier like a trip to ice cream, a sleep over, etc.
If a task is not completed, the child does not earn tickets or stickers. Since my kids are still young, I do not force them to do any chores, it’s fairly optional except for the feeding of our animals.
My Chore Chart download includes all the cards you need for chores, tickets, sticker reward sheets and “Best Bee-havior” cards. I had some friends help me come up with common chores for their households so hopefully there are plenty to choose from. There is also a blank set of cards included so you can write in your child’s names, or specific chores that apply to your home.
I also have a Chore Chart for younger kids that is a little less intimidating and easier to use.
For this one, I just put the chore cards in slot #2 and when your child completes them they move the cards to slot #3. At the end of the day I change the cards out with tickets and put the chore cards for the next day back in slot #2.
Again, if they complete all their tasks for a given day, they get a sticker on the rewards chart in slot #4. They also can earn Best “Bee-havior” tickets as well. This download includes less chore cards, a blank sheet for you to add in your own, Best “Beehavior” cards and colorful tickets.
You can find the small Tabletop Pocket Chart at Lakeshore Learning.
Hope the chore rewards idea works for your family!
Click here to download the Chore Chart for Older Kids
Click here to download the Chore Chart for Young Kids
(TIP: If you are having trouble getting the file to open in your browser window, RIGHT click on the download link, then select “SAVE LINK AS”. You will be prompted to save the file to your hard drive.)
Here’s a great idea from Shining Our Lights for setting up the chart for little ones!
I love how she uses velcro to put the cards on, then replaces them with tickets as chores are completed! Great idea!
I’ve gotten some great emails from you all and would love to see how everyone is using the chart, if you have pictures, make sure to link up so we can see other ways to use it!
How wonderful!! Thank you so much for sharing! Can you make the tickets just black and white for me? Thank you! -Elisa
SO cool that you posted about your chore charts! I found your chore chart printables recently, made a chore chart for my 4 and 8 year olds, and blogged about it yesterday! You also answered a question I had. I was not sure about handing out small prizes for every ticket… that's a lot of stuff laying around… and then you said you pay .25 per ticket. Check out my version of the pocket chore chart using your cards!http://theylendmetheirhearts.blogspot.com/2011/01/new-chore-chart.html Thanks for the great ideas and printables!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! I have been SEARCHING for something exactly like this and this just brightened my day!!!! Thanks!!
Wow. How much I really need this right now! Three boys five and under…just thought about getting a basic chart started and boy do I love these!! They are more than perfect! I hope you don't mind I posted about this on my blog here http://savemoremom.com/?p=1573
I can not thank you enough! This is an answer to prayer. We have been really struggling on how to do this. I so appreciate your wisdom and encouragement. This is our first year of homeschooling and we live way out in the country and if it had not of been for your blog I would have felt so very alone. May God bless you!
Love this idea! Looks like it would be fun to make with the kids, too. Just also wanted to let you know that the link for the Pocket Chart in the supplies list gives a "Page Not Found" error. Thanks!!
Such an awesome resource. Thank you so much for sharing it.
Erin,This is right on time. I have been pushing chore planning to the back of my mind, but as more tasks need to be completed around our home, I knew I couldn't go another weekend w/o looking at putting something together. This will be a great help w/my planning.
Thanks, Erin! I have been going to make a chore chart something like this for a long time now and just have not gotten around to it. Thank you so much!
Thank you so much!! I just found your website and LOVE it!! The neat thing is that I have a blog and it is called Confessions of a Couponer. LOL. Thank you for the chore cards!!Jennifer
Thank you so much! I was going to attempt to make my own today in fact, what awesome timing! I absolutely love this! I think in my reward box I'm going to put in a lot of "coupons" for TV/computer time, date with Mommy/Daddy, etc!
THANK YOU!THANK YOU!THANK YOU!This is EXACTLY what I've been looking for for the past 5 months!I'm off to go print things now!amy
This is wonderful! Great work. Thanks for offering this for free!
Thank you for the great chore chart downloads! A friend of mine has one similar & I was struggling to get started to make my own, but not any more! =)
I honestly think you are a fly in my office. I was just looking for chore stuff yesterday! Amazed at how expensive it can get to buy…Sad because one's I would make would look like my 2 year old made them!Actually I would rather you be reading my mind because my office is dirty!!Thanks again for saving my sanity!
Absolutely awesome! I haven't really thought about using a chore chart for my kids yet. But we have been struggling getting the oldest (2, almost 3) to do her chores without a big fight and fuss. I bet this would work for her, after all, having a chart is what finally got her potty trained! : )
THANK YOU! This is one of my New Year's Resolutions: to get my kids to start helping more in a *joyful* manner. I'm so tired of fighting over chores. I really like the 1st chart, but the link doesn't work. Can you tell us where to find it? Thanks!
Try printing them at Mimeo.com they offer 50% off the first order and if you change the "turn around time" on the order you can get this shipped pretty low. I had to call the customer service people for a little help but they were so incredibly nice that I can't help but recommend them to others!!!
This is so great! I have been trying to find a chore system that actually works and this looks like something my oldest would definitely use. I also wanted to say that we just love your Letter of the Week curriculum – I downloaded it a couple months back and my 5 and (almost) 2 year just love all the different activities in it. My son especially loves the Do A Dots – I've had to print off lots of extra ones.
Shay @ WonderfullyChaotic.com
This is genious!!
LINKS: I double checked the links and they appear to be working, please let me know if you are still having troubles.BLACK & WHITE: Pages 21-25 are black and white images if you prefer not to print color.
Thank you so much! We are putting our house on the market and I need the little ones to help me keep it clean!
I was able to download the first set but not the younger set. I get an error message every time.
Erica-you are truly amazing! Thank you so much, this is EXACTLY what we need!!!!!Melissa
Erica,I just did a post about all my fave chore things out there and am going to go back and add yours to my list. Great job! Looks amazing!
Here's a link to where I share about this on my blog: http://dayindayoutdayupdaydown.blogspot.com/2011/01/all-systems-go-and-come-and-go.html Thanks for letting me about my blogger settings….think something got changed when I did a gmail account. Hope I fixed it : )