How to Make Chores Fun for Kids
Chores don’t have to feel like punishment.
When we add play, time limits, imagination, and movement, children are far more willing to join in — and often forget they’re “working” at all.
Instead of asking “How do I make my child do chores?”
Try asking “How do I turn this into a game?”
- Put your child’s favourite song on and they have time to sort/fold clothes until the song ends.
2. The child could roll the socks into a ball and throw them from a distance into the drawer or another child’s hand to be put away.
3. Race with sibling or a parent, who can sort colours the fastest.
4. Find matching socks: lay the socks down in the room and let the child find each pair, like a detective game.
- Speed run, let’s see how many plates/dishes/cutlery can be washed until the timer finishes
2. Let’s see how many dishes are washed while the parent/sibling pick the toys up
- If you have different coloured boxes where the toys are put, create a rule which toy goes where, and make a race with it, while the parent does one box, the child does the other
2. Find all red toys first, then blue, then green etc, and put them away in the correct box
3. Put a timer on and see how many toys are put away and for the rest put a music on and when the music is stopped the child has to freeze, once the music is back on, the child can move
- Parent tells the child that their room is a hotel room now and the bed needs to be guest ready, the child can get 1-5 stars depending on how they did.
2. Beat the clock – set a timer to make the bed.
3. While the parent finishes another chore (make sure the chore is in the child’s room, so they feel safe), the child has time to finish making the bed.
- Instead of set the table, give only one role: plate person, fork fixer, cup carrier
2. You can put toys on the table, where the items will go and once all the toys are down, the table is set.
3. Parent set the table almost complete and the child finds what’s missing.
1.Get dressed before the song stops. “Let’s see how much you can put on before it ends”
2. Parent could lay out choices for the child and the child can pick the outfit of the day
3. Call out body parts: “put something on for the legs, put something on for the arms, your feet etc”
4. Hide the clothes in the room, once the child finds it, they need to put it on, it is less overwhelming than putting on 4 after each other.
5. Create papers that hold one piece of clothing and put it into a hat, let your child pick one out of the hat and put it on.
6. Mystery clothing bag: Put the clothes in the bag, child can pull out one item at a time and put it on.
7. Floor path: Lay clothes in a path on the floor, the child can follow the path and put each clothing on