Free Printable Chore Charts for Kids

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These Free Printable Chore Charts for Kids are perfect to laminate and use with dry erase markers for a super simple chore system. Because honestly, friends, if it's complicated, we can't stick with it. So, I'm hoping you'll find these particular chore charts as effective as we do. Download your favorite design below to use with your family. 

Do your kids do chores? The only way we can seem to implement a true reward system for chores in our family is by keeping it as simple as possible. In our house, these free printable chore charts work really well for that purpose. They're great to laminate for the refrigerator or to add to your household binder that all of the members of the family can have access to. Grab your favorite pattern below. 

Free Printable Chore Charts

Let's face it, if we don't have a chore chart going on and in a visible location, we're likely to skip a whole lot of chores (which means mom and dad have much heavier loads). Using this simple system that I'm sharing on these free printable chore charts has been a game changer for our family for a number of years. I hope it helps yours, too. I'm also sharing some easy chore ideas for different kids' ages, as well.

These free printable chore charts are designed to coordinate with all of the printables from our latest organizational printable series here. There are three designs available in our entire series (including the chore charts): stripes, polka dots, and triangles. Let me know if you're interested in other designs of the same format. Just leave me a comment or drop me an email. If this system works for lots of folks, I'd love to make it available in a variety of aesthetics and themes. 

How to Use These Free Printable Chore Charts for Kids

In our house, we just make sure all of our assigned chores for the week are done by the kids' payday (you know, for the most part). We used to have each star or checkmark equal a small monetary amount. But, the competition was getting a bit fierce around here, y'all. Now, we just have a set weekly amount and make sure chores are done these days. Seriously simple...but it works for us. My brain can't wrap itself around anything more complex than these. I also have found it important to be consistent with a weekly payday...going any longer than that has my kids losing interest (fast!).

• There is a line at the top of the chart to fill in the child's name.
• Start by filling in tasks for the chore chart holder in the lefthand column on your chart (I have a list of chore ideas by age groups listed out below)
• Use check marks or stars (or even stickers) to mark off when tasks are completed throughout the week.
• Again, this is a fairly open-ended concept that you can adapt to your own family's needs. 
• And be sure to keep things simple so it's easier to stick with! This can truly work as a great reward system for household chores.

Setting Up Your Chore Charts

• Download your favorite chore chart design below.
• This chore chart design is for personal use only. 
• Personally, I like to laminate our chore charts with these 9"x12" Self Adhesive Laminating Sheets. You can find them here on Amazon. 
• After laminating, I use self adhesive magnets on the back so I can keep our chore charts on the refrigerator. I purchased my magnets at Amazon, also...you can find those here. I also use these same magnets on my free printable meal planner and to-do list, too.
• After you laminate your chart, they're great to use with dry erase markers.
• I really prefer these fine-tipped dry erase markers since they write so nicely in the spaces.

Chore Ideas for Kids by Age:

The below ideas are just suggestions and ideas that have worked for our own family. Use your judgment as to whether these chores will work for your own kids. I grouped these in categories for age-appropriate tasks. If you'd like even MORE ideas, be sure to check out my list of 101 Age-Appropriate Chores for Kids.

• Ages 3-4:

• Helping make beds (learning to pull covers up, etc.)
• Picking up and sorting toys
• Light dusting on non-breakables
• Sorting laundry by colors (with assistance)
• Bringing laundry to laundry room or area
• Taking laundry back to personal spaces and putting it away with assistance (to me this always reiterates the "putting things away" idea)

• Ages 5-6:

• Sock matching while folding laundry + simple laundry folding
• Setting table (with assistance): be sure to use my free printable table setting teaching placemats here to help with this task.
• Helping clear table after meals and projects
• Wiping down table with sponge and water
• Feeding pets
• Watering plants
• Sweeping floors (with assistance); my kids used one of those lightweight battery-vacuums in our hard-floor areas at this age

• Ages 7-8:

• Mop
• Vacuum 
• Fold laundry (especially towels and similar)
• Emptying dishwasher (we started with just the utensil basket and graduated to just the bottom rack, eventually making the chore the entire dishwasher)
• Emptying waste baskets
• Putting their own laundry away (especially in drawers)

• Ages 9-11:

• Washing/drying dishes by hand or loading dishwasher
• Helping with meal preparation
• Learning to clean bathroom (with kid-safe cleaners)
• Taking trash out to curb for pick up (and putting away after pick up)

• Ages 12 and up:

• At this point, kids of these ages may be able to take on more adult-like chores (cleaning, laundry, cooking, and even lawn mowing).

Again, the above are just the things that have worked well for our own family. It's always a good idea to experiment with things that will work well with your own kids. In our house, some chores are better for one kid while others work better for the other kid. And, well, some that I just tend to do myself (I know, I know). 

Download Your Free Printable Chore Charts:

You can choose any of the following designs to download below (stripes, polka dots, or triangles). Or, download all of them!

• Download the striped design chore chart here.
• Download the polka dotted design chore chart here.
• Download the triangle design chore chart here.
• These downloads are also available here in Dropbox.
• These downloads are also available here in Google Drive. 

Looking for More Free Printable Chore Charts?

• My original Free Printable Chore Charts are still popular, too. The design has the exact same concept, just different patterns and such.
• I also have newer, floral and polka dotted versions of Free Printable Chore Charts here.
• These printable Reward Charts from my friend, Diana, at The Girl Creative are super cute.
• These chore charts from Passion For Savings are another nice option.
• These goal-oriented chore charts from Abby Lawson have a nice, simple design.

Not sure how to Download or Print your Printable?

You can get loads of information on downloading and printing your printables in my complete video tutorial below. It covers how to download and print your printables on both a Mac and a PC. There is information on printing at home or even uploading to your local print shop. Still have questions? See my complete downloading and printing tutorial here.