Summer Chore Charts { 6 FREE PRINTABLES }

& 10 SECRETS for Getting Your Kids to Do Their Chores!!

“Should I do summer chore charts?”

So, the kids are out of school for the summer, and lots of moms are thinking about summer chore charts. We know we want structure in our homes and for everything to run smoothly and efficiently, but we wonder if it’s even worth trying chore charts {again}.

“Do I want to nag my kids all day to get their chores done?”

“They never do their chores anyways, and I’m too busy to deal with it!”

“It’s a nice thought, but the chores never get done, so I’m not even going to try.”

All of these negative thoughts about chore charts do NOT need to take over and dictate pre-determined failure to you! It CAN be done, moms. YOU are the parent, and you CAN be effective in creating really motivating ways to enforce your kids’ chore charts!

It’s so much easier than you think, I promise.

As a mom of four, I know the importance of each child participating in family chores for our home to run efficiently and for me to stay SANE! I won’t run myself ragged AND miss a chance to teach my children a work ethic. It’s beneficial to everyone in the home to have summer chore charts!

10 Secrets to Getting Your Kids to Complete their Chores

Moms, here are some SECRETS on enforcing summer chore charts and getting your kids to complete their chores WITHOUT you nagging them all day. I grew up in a home where all 8 (yes, 8 of us kids!) of us had daily chores. My mom has always been great at making and enforcing charts and lists, so most of the ideas I use in my home were passed down from her. 😉 Plus, she reminded me of a couple more when I mentioned to her that I was writing this post. (Thanks, Mom!)

1. Divide chores up

Divide chores up (Example: morning chores and evening chores) and give them deadlines as to when these sections must be completed by. For us, morning chores must be done first thing in the morning. The rest of their chores need to be completed before dinner.

Breaking up the list like this does a couple of things for your child:

A. It makes their list of chores seem easier when they don’t see it as one long list, but two (or three) smaller ones. It’s not so daunting to them this way!

B. Giving them a deadline that’s related to a daily ritual (lunch, dinner, bedtime, etc.) will help them remember when their chores should be finished and will help them form a habit of doing these things by a certain time.

2. Chores before play

Make sure your kids know that their morning chores must be done first thing in the morning, before they start playing and get distracted. This is especially important for little ones whose entire day revolves around play! Once they get involved with their favorite toys, they feel like they are being punished when you pull them away for chores. It’ll be a happier time if you make sure to catch them before they start playing!

3. Add non-chores

Include non-chores on your summer chore charts. Example: “After you’ve completed 1, 2, & 3, take a lemonade break (ride your bike for 15 minutes, choose something from the Surprise Box, etc.) You will know what will motivate your kids, so this will be different for everybody!

4. Chores before electronics

Let your kids know that they can not use any electronics until their chores are done. My kids know that if they say “Mom, can I use the computer/iPad?” that I will say, “Don’t ask me unless your chores are finished.”

5. Add “surprise chores”

Put a “surprise chore” on their chore chart – which means that when they get to that chore, they choose a small, folded piece of paper from a basket or hat that you have filled with “surprise chores.” These chores should be ones that don’t need to be done on a daily basis. Example: “Organize your underwear drawer,” “Organize the Tupperware drawer,” “Wipe down the dining room chairs,” etc. You can get a lot of odd jobs done this way, and kids like the surprise aspect!

6. Use fun stickers for marking charts

Have fun new stickers or stamps for marking chore charts. Make sure these “special stickers/stamps” are ONLY used for chore charts so it stays exciting. 🙂

My kids’ favorite way to fill out their printable chore charts is with stamp markers — look at these fun stamp markers available on Amazon.com! We currently have some basic shapes like these RoseArt Stamp n Color.

7. Rotate chores every 3-4 weeks

Rotate chores every 3-4 weeks so your kids don’t get bored with the same thing for too long. This works especially well if they have a chore that they really don’t like (i.e. cleaning the bathroom). If they do a halfhearted job, tell them that when you see that they can do a really good job, you can rotate the job to a different one. If they still need to learn to clean the bathroom a little better, they’ll have to keep the job for another week or two. This motivates them to do good work!

8. Have kid-friendly cleaning tools

Have “child-sized” cleaning tools if you have little ones. (i.e. hand vac, little broom) They’ll think it’s like playing house rather than doing a chore! 😉 My 5-year-old was really excited when we purchased our hand vac and he literally jumps at the chance to use it!

9. Do your “mom chores”

Let your children know that YOU, the Mom, are doing chores, also. It makes it easier for kids to go about their chores when they see that you are doing things, too. For this reason, I don’t check email, chat on the phone, etc. while my kids do their morning chores (although I have every right to choose when I want to do these things versus my housework!).

I have found from experience that I see my kids initiative go way up when I say something like, “Ok, Chloe, you have the bathroom this week? I’ll be working in the kitchen getting everything beautiful and sparkling while you do that. If you need something, let me know!” Or, “Charlie, you are in charge of loading the dishwasher, right? I’ll clean off the island while you do that so it’s ready for crafts later.” These are things that I am going to do anyways, so I just make sure I do them alongside my kids for a better “teamwork” mentality.

10. Reward your kids

Reward your kids at the end of the week! Nothing motivates kids more than to have mom or dad notice how well they did and praise them for their hard work!

Here are several examples:

When movie night rolls around (Friday or Saturday), I check chore charts and see how each of the kids did that week. The one with the most chores checked off gets to pick what fun snack we all will have, or what movie everyone will watch. If there’s a tie, we toss a coin and one kid can pick the snack and one the movie.

Some parents like to reward with “tokens” and let their kids buy small prizes from a little “store” they have set up at the end of each month.

Another fun option is taking the kids that did well out for hot cocoa or to the corner store for a drink that they like. Kids love things like this, and it is even better when their reward can double as quality time with YOU!

With these “snack” chore charts that you can download below, the reward at the end of the week could match the design on their chore chart!

Let’s do this, moms!! Take one, a few, or all of these secrets and see what happens when you enforce summer chore charts! I’ve made these fun, printable summer chore charts to get you started!

Comment below and talk with us about your favorite way to get your kids to do chores, and share some of YOUR secrets with all of us!