56 UHeart Organizing: Children's Chore Charts

Today is a big day!  Our very first installment of UHeart Organizing!  Please give Courtney a warm welcome as she stops by from A Thoughtful Place to share her creative method for keeping her kids excited with some of their household tasks.

Hello, I Heart Organizing readers! I am thrilled to be hanging out here today sharing something that is working wonders in our household. Back to school is just around the corner and I needed to do something to eliminate the broken record syndrome. Does any of this sound familiar, “Did you make your bed? Have you brushed your teeth? Has the fish been fed? Can you set the table, please!” I hear myself over and over and I know how redundant the routine is sounding. My oldest will be entering first grade and the mornings are about to start much earlier. I decided we not only needed a chore chart, but a system that would include the daily routine as well. With most of the supplies already on hand, this is what I came up with:

I thought long and hard about how I wanted to do this. I knew that pockets would be the best for my little ones so I made it my mission to find library pockets. Do you all remember those? Luckily, a darling scrapbooking store that is right in my town pulled through with a package containing 12 {exactly what I needed}. They can also be found on Amazon here if you are on the search. The only other purchase I made was the Martha Stewart chalkboard labels {Staples}. I must admit though, that the homemade version of these are just as effective if not better. I also hit up my local paint store for some paint chips. 

The idea behind this was to make it a very visual chart so that anyone in the family could quickly look at it and know if the jobs had been completed. To accomplish this, I used a red and green card method {red for stop, and green for go}. Each pocket would host two cards. If the task still needs to be done, there will be a red card showing. When the task is completed, our kiddos switch their card to green {placing the red card behind}. It’s super quick and simple and they children LOVE switching their cards. I think it gives them a sense of accomplishment much like when we cross something off from our list. Visually, they are motivated to see all green cards. I chose paint chips that were a little bit more of a muted green and red {just more appealing to me and for the hallway that it is hanging in}.

The fabric was leftover from when I recently lined my built-in bookcase. It was purchased at Hobby Lobby. Luckily, I had a 16 x 20 frame that was no longer being used so I took off the back and placed the fabric right behind the glass.

Once your fabric is behind the glass and you have closed up the backing, trim the access fabric so it will hang nicely on the wall.

Once my fabric was in place, I trimmed the library pockets and paint chips to make them shorter {I wanted to be able to fit all 12 pockets on my frame}.

The beauty of these is that they just peel and stick. In under a minute I had my 12 pockets and red/green card system read to go.

What is pretty cool about the library card pocket set I found is that they came with calendar cards {12 of them}.  So here is how it all works!  Each night when we are doing the bedtime routine, we check the chore chart with the kiddos {which takes three seconds since it is very visual} and give them a check mark if they completed their tasks.  And it's really not an option... they need to do their tasks!  We talk about how they are more like their household and personal responsibilities.  At the end of each week, if they have all of their check marks, they will receive their full allowance.  You can see more on how I do that here.

I decided to use chalkboard labels so that I can easily update, erase or change their chores as necessary.  I bought a package of large labels and just cut each one in half and cut the corners.

Using a chalkboard maker I wrote down their personal responsibilities and chores. For my son who is not reading yet, I used little picture cues to help.

You know what they say. Location!  Location!  Location!  The same rule applies for a chore chart! It is hanging in our upstairs hallway directly outside of their bedrooms and bathroom. This makes it easy for them to go straight to it after most tasks. The fish is also in their bathroom so we made it very easy for them!

This has been a huge hit with the kids.  They love doing a task and changing their card to green.  At the end of the night when they have received their check mark from us, they both reset their cards to red for the next morning.

And for all of you super sleuths who only spy one "brush teeth" pocket, we do actually brush our teeth twice in this house, however, this one applies to the morning. Remember, I am trying to speed up our morning routine and the broken record system prior to school starting. So the make bed, feed fish, and brush teeth all happen before school!

I can’t tell you how nice it is to pour coffee in the morning and here my son bound down the stairs saying, “I did more chores, mommy!”  Ahhhh.  Let’s hope this trend continues.  And as they grow, I can remove the personal responsibilities from the chart and add more chores to help around the home. What about you all?  Do you have an effective system in place.   It’s always nice to share and learn what works in different homes. 

"Do you believe in love at first sight? I sure do because when I first stumbled upon I Heart Organizing I immediately fell in love with Jen's mad organizational skills. I think we all long for a calm, organized, well styled life. I am the author of A Thoughtful Place blog where I dish on all things related to decorating, organizing, entertaining, and of course DIY-ing! To be quite honest, working on making my house a home is my happy place. It fulfills my need to be creative and I love sharing ideas {both big and small} with my readers. Along with my blog, I am a contributing writer to House of Fifty and have recently started my own decorating firm, Casey Grace Design, LLC,  with my talented sister.  I call Orange County, California home where I live with amazing husband and two children. At the end of a busy day, I love to enjoy an ice cold beer on the front porch with my hubby while we watch our children ride their bikes or run around. Life is sweet and I am thrilled to be a part of the IHeart Organizing Team."