When my older kids were young I found a cute illustrated chore chart online to print off and use for them. They could know exactly what their responsibility was for the day by looking at the chart, even when they didn’t read. And yes, I did incentivize their completing of chores, so that helped too. More on that below. Now I’ve decided to make my own printable chore chart for kids for you to have! I also find myself in the place of once again having a toddler with whom a chart such as this would be oh so beneficial. I’m so excited about this project and how it turned out, and I hope you are too.

What are the benefits of using a chore chart for kids?

Teaching kids how to clean when they’re young is so important, and it makes it so much easier to start when they’re young. A chore chart is a great tool to implement in this teaching process. When you implement a chore chart, it is not only helpful for your children, from personal experience, it is also helpful for mom! With this illustrated chore chart, set out the chore cards once a week, and it’s done. Of course there will be some reminding (some more than others I’m sure). But if you’re anything like me, you’ll be much less likely to go through your evening and forget to tell the kids what chore to do when the chart is already set up.

Some of the benefits of using a chore chart include:

Helps kids learn how to take responsibility for their own tasks
A friendly reminder they have chores to complete
Creates a consistent routine
Can make chores more fun (especially if you use my illustrated chore cards)
Helps children feel accomplished (the same way checking something off your to-do list does for you!)
Increases self-confidence
A little incentive can go a long way in providing motivation

For the youngest of kids especially, just getting colorful tickets can be enough motivation to make doing chores feel exciting.

What you need for my Printable Chore Chart for Kids

There are all sorts of chore charts available out there, but this style stuck out to me, and it has worked great for my kids. I love the ease of just slipping the illustrated cards into a pocket as opposed to hand-writing it on a board (my current method for the teens). I would still use this illustrated chore chart if the teens would go along with it!

What this printable chore chart includes:

30 chore cards with illustrations (5 colored sets of 30)
10 blank chore cards
14 tickets (5 sets of 14)
Monday-Friday days of the week cards

Why 5 sets? Each set of chore cards is a different color and has a coordinating set of tickets. This works great if you have multiple children. You can use one color for each child. Or, use a different color for each day of the week. However you choose to do it, the great thing about it is you can print only the pages you want!

What you need to make your chore chart:

How does a chore chart work?

Chore charts list household tasks that need to be completed. The nice thing about chore charts is you can pretty easily personalize them to your own family needs and way of life. The very best part about them is they do the brainwork for you. Once you have your preferred system in place, you just rinse and repeat. No heavy lifting on the brain required.

A few ways you can set up your chore chart include:

Divide by each area of the home
Set the same chores for each day of the week (every Monday is wash day, Tuesday is floors, etc)
Divide responsibilities by age
Create a comprehensive list of all household chores and divide as needed depending on the week (a much more go with the flow approach but still with some structure provided)
Create a comprehensive schedule that includes daily, weekly and monthly chores

Really you can make it work any way you choose! The basic I’ll tell you how I use this illustrated chore chart for kids that I’ve created.

How I use this illustrated chore chart

I created squares with each child’s name on it, put those in the pockets on the left side, and then I add the month and days Monday – Friday at the top of the chart. Then you add the chores in as desired. You can do one chore a day, or multiple chores. Some of this depends on the age of your children.

There are some chores, such as “brush teeth” that needs to be done each day, so once it is complete for Monday, I’ll move it to Tuesday. This is where the extra colored chore cards could come in to play also. You’ll notice from my photo example above, the child on top has “brush teeth”. This is because my other children are old enough this does not count as a chore for them, but my youngest still needs help making this a routine, and the chore chart is a great reminder.

For each chore completed, the child receives a ticket. At the end of every day I put a ticket in front of all the chores they completed. In our house, at the end of the week, tickets are collected, and they can turn the tickets in for a prize from the treasure chest. The chest is something I happened to have already. Often I grab my prizes for the treasure chest from The Dollar Tree.

You can do whatever you choose. Use money, stickers, or nothing. It’s completely up to you. But I’m a huge believer in positive reinforcement for children, and I believe some sort of reward for chores, especially when they’re learning, is a good thing.

This printable chore chart is great for young children

I would say this illustrated chore chart works great for kids ages 3-8. By age 9 or 10 they may be over the cute little colored pictures and possibly the treasure chest option. But if not, hey mama, I’d milk that for all it’s worth. Just my personal opinion.

This printable chore chart for kids is a great motivator and helps young children take responsibility and learn a great life skill.

Grab your printable chore chart below!

If you’ve made it this far, you may be looking for a free version of my printable chore chart for kids. For some time I offered this chart for free, however, it did take me a lot of time and effort to create, and charging a small fee allows me the ability to create more great resources for you!