5 Creative Chore Chart Ideas for Families

Everyone enjoys a clean house, but the word “chore” doesn’t exactly elicit warm feelings from even the tidiest among us. Families often squabble about who’s doing the most, or the least, amount of cleaning, and kids often feel like any amount of help is some sort of indentured servitude. The family home is a space everyone shares, so we should all share responsibility in keeping it clean. By organizing chores on a chore chart, you can fairly share the responsibility of cleaning, and with these creative ideas, you may actually have a little bit of fun. Work For the Weekend

A lot of people use incentives to get their families on board with chores. In this model, the incentive is a fun Saturday activity. Using a dry erase board, make a chart with days of the week across the top (Sunday – Friday) and rooms in your house down the side. Write down what needs to be done in each room on each day. Using magnets for each family member, assign each person one room per day. Some rooms require more daily upkeep than others, so make sure those are allocated fairly throughout the family. Every completed chore is given a checkmark. On Saturday, celebrate with a family outing, game night, or other non-chore bonding activity. If things didn’t get done during the week, Saturday becomes a cleaning day. 

1. Make a Family Chore Landscape

Assign each family member an element of a landscape: Sun, Cloud, Tree, Flower, etc. Write out groups of chores on note cards, and assign one note card per family member. When each card’s chores are completed, the note card is turned in and the family member gets to draw their landscape element onto the chalkboard or dry erase board. When the landscape is finished, it means all the chores were completed. Take a picture of your completed chore chart landscape. Your family will enjoy getting creative with this one, and it will add an element of fun to weekly chores. 

2. Build a Chore Garden

Using popsicle sticks and construction paper, create “flowers” with different chores written on them. After work and school, each family member is given a “bouquet” of chores. As each chore is completed and checked, stick the chore “flower” into a lined flower box so they’ll fit. Kids will enjoy watching the garden grow, and parents will enjoy working with their kids to build responsibility in such a cute way. 

3. Win the Chore Lottery

Add a bit of chance to the game of chores with a chore lottery. Write different chores on ping pong balls and on each chore, day take turns pulling balls from the chore lottery bucket. If a family member volunteers to take a more challenging or unpleasant chore from someone else, they get to pick the chore playlist. Set a timer for one hour and put on some tunes, so everyone works together at the same time and has a little fun. The lesson of the chore lottery? When we work together, everyone wins. 

4. Play Checkers

Make a laminated sheet for each room of the house with daily and weekly chores. Assign each member of the house one room, plus their bedroom, each week. As each chore is completed, check it off the list, leaving weekly tasks for Saturday mornings. Each night, kids will enjoy comparing their chore charts each night and perhaps a healthy bit of competition will inspire them to tackle their tasks with even greater precision. When Saturday’s weekly chore tasks are due, ring a chore alarm and see who’s earned their checks. Everyone who has completed their weekly tasks, including Mom and Dad, get to enjoy a special prize. 

Uplift Your House with House Lift

House Lift is passionate about finding ways to help people love the homes they’re in. Finding fun ways to manage household chores is a great way to invest in a happier, cleaner homelife. When your home needs a greater upgrade than chores can provide, trust the remodeling and addition pros at House Lift. We work with our clients from the initial planning stage, through the design phase, and onward to the successful completion of your remodeling project or home addition, House Lift has the extensive experience and expertise to make your dream home come to life in the home you’re already in. Learn more at https://houseliftinc.com/.