Chores can be a great way to teach your children how to take care of their home when they are older, as well as a good way to start teaching them responsibility. If you're wondering what kind of chores to give your 5-year-old, here's our definitive list of 10 simple chores that you can start your kids doing at this age, and ways to encourage and reward chores. Looking for more chore ideas? Try our age-appropriate chore list for kids.
What are the benefits of chores for 5 year olds?
Lots of parents wonder about the benefits of giving kids chores. Chores can be great to teach your children responsibility and give them a sense of community. It's also a great way to prepare them for adult life and encourage good habits about cleanliness, both for when they're living at home and when they move out on their own. On top of this, completing chores can give them a great sense of pride and accomplishment in a job well done.
Chores for 5 year olds
Here are our top ten chores for 5 year olds. These are all great choices, though you should consider how many chores your child should do when picking some from the list, after all, you know your child best.
- Make the bed. This is a great daily chore to get your child to do. It's very simple and they can directly see how it benefits them. Plus, this will give your 5-year-old a better sense of how their bedroom is their own personal space that they have to take care of.
- Dust. This is another very simple job, especially if you give them a duster with a handle so they can reach higher places like surfaces and bookshelves. Though some higher-up spots will still be out of reach, that’s where you can come in and help to show them chores are a shared responsibility. It's worth being cautious with polishing or dusting spray or delicate ornaments for your child's safety.
- Set the table. Helping with communal chores can give your child a feeling of responsibility within the family. It's important for kids to understand that everyone in the household works together to make the house run smoothly. You can also combine this with their pre-dinner routines such as washing their hands.
- Clear the table. You might want to make sure that kids only help clear the smaller plates and glasses rather than any serving dishes, as these might be too heavy for younger children.
- Clean their room. This can help give your child a sense of control over their own space. Once they clean their own room, your child may be a little bit more aware of the messes they make and should be more helpful when it comes to tidying up in general. This is a particularly good lesson for them to carry into adulthood.
- Tidy away toys. This is another way to teach children how to tidy up after themselves. While a few toys might not seem like too much to tidy, as they get older, it'll be important for them to know they should tidy up their own messes.
- Separate laundry. While a 5-year-old is probably too young to actually do the laundry, they can help separate washing piles. For example, separating lights and darks, or separating delicates and general washes. If you ask them to do this while you're putting the laundry into the washing machine you can also start to explain how to wash clothes and get them to repeat the instructions back to you to check that they understand.
- Move laundry from washer to dryer. You can also get your 5-year-old to help you move laundry from the washer to the dryer, airer or washing line. This is also a great time to show them how to hang out clothes for when they're old enough to help with all the different parts of doing laundry.
- Fold laundry. Larger items are probably hard for a younger child to fold, but underwear, socks, and some of their own clothes are small enough for most children to manage. This is a great chore that you can share with your child, where you can fold larger items alongside them. Doing chores together will make it seem more fun and less like something they want to avoid, and it helps them see how much you do around the house as well.
- Empty small bins. While no one likes emptying the bins, this is a great way to show your child that sometimes unpleasant things have to be done for the good of the household. You can also use this to teach them more about hygiene. Larger, heavier bins or food waste bins might not be suitable for younger children to empty, but smaller bins or paper recycling should be fine.
How to make chores fun for 5 year olds
Chores aren't usually much fun, but there are plenty of ways you can make them more enjoyable. You could turn chores into a game or use a sticker chart to track when your kids do chores. You could also think about giving your child a bit of extra pocket money for doing chores. Not only will this encourage them to do chores, but it will show them the benefit of hard work.
Make paying your kid's pocket money for chores easy with GoHenry
You can use our paid tasks feature to easily pay your kid's pocket money when they do chores. Simply set up a paid task and select the amount you want to pay them on your GoHenry app. Your child will be able to see this on their app, and they can tick it off when they're done. Once you confirm, the money goes straight to their GoHenry prepaid kids debit card for them to spend. Plus, with our in-app Money Missions, your child will have bite-sized lessons and quizzes to teach them about jobs & earning, saving habits, and spending wisely, meaning they'll know what to do with the money they earn from chores.
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