Age Appropriate Chores for your 5-year-old
Introducing and encouraging Age Appropriate Chores for your 5-year-old chores may seem daunting in the beginning. My son started showing an interest in doing chores right around age 4. To be quiet honest I was hesitant at first in encouraging this idea. Initially, I was conflicted with the idea of having my toddler do chores around our home. Scenes of him slowing down my cleaning process, and breaking things went through my mind and the chaos that may ensue stopped me from encouraging him. Then it occurred to me that I needed to foster this interest. If I don’t this may lead to total disinterest as he grows older.
I will be sharing some of the Age appropriate chores for 5-year old’s that we currently use in our home. Prior to that here are some reasons to foster your child’s wanting to help at home.
- Kids gain valuable skills that help foster independence and skills that can be taken into adulthood.
- The ability to care for self, respect for property, others, and theirs.
- Ability to learn and complete new tasks.
- Doing chores also helps develop concentration abilities. Which will be valuable when they transition into a school environment.
Some ways to encourage your toddler to help with chores around the house is to ask and allow them to be involved in the process. Using kind words and praises after each chore. Such as thank you, you did a great job, you are such a great helper. Positive reinforcement is key when trying to encourage kids to do chores.
Here are some of Age Appropriate Chores for your 5-year-old
- Laundry: We encourage him to always put his dirty clothes in the laundry hamper. When it is time to do laundry he also helps load the washer and unload the dryer.
- Emptying out the dishwasher: This is one of my son’s favorite chores. He knows that only mummy or daddy can touch the knives or other sharp objects. He takes the dishes and puts them in the right place. For things out of his reach, he puts them on the kitchen counter for me to put away.
- Diaper Disposal: Prior to having a baby brother. We encouraged him to throw his diaper in the trash. Now that he is out of diapers, he is in charge of disposing of his baby brother’s diapers.
- Using hand Vacum: My son likes to use the vacuum for all things. He loves the noise that emits from the vacuum. We encourage him to use it for spills and little crumbs.
- Putting dirty dishes away: At the end of each meal. He takes his plate and cup and places them in the kitchen sink. There are days when he forgets and we just remind him to do it.
- Cleaning and wiping the table after eating: if there are any spills or splatters from dinner. He grabs a paper towel wipes the mess from the placemat.
- Putting away toys. This is a daily routine for us. Prior to dinner each night. Play toys used are to be returned to the appropriate bin at the end of the day. For storage at the end of each day. Between the age 3/4 we used to sing the cleanup song while doing this. This helped make it a fun activity.
Chore charts are also a great reward system style to get kids more involved in doing household chores. Printables can be found on Pinterest and Etsy. You may also enjoy reading this and this.