I am a firm believer in child labor chores.
Actually, I’m a believer in my children learning the value of hard work, being part of a team and how to carry their own weight. It just so happens that helping out around the house is a great way to work toward this goal.
When my kids were younger, keeping them all organized, on task and more importantly, inspecting their work was very difficult for me to keep up with.
I tried winging it. That didn’t work out so well. I also tried store bought chore boards and more excel spreadsheets and custom printables than you can imagine.
I also contemplated the elaborate DIY chore boards on Pinterest that are obviously meant for people with ALOT of time on their hands and who obviously do NOT have more than two children. (I’m joking. Kind of.)
While some of these worked for some of the time, we didn’t stick with any of them. We either outgrew them, they weren’t efficient or I wasn’t dedicated enough. Or I just didn’t have the time to make them.
One day I was visiting a friend, and I fell in love with her DIY Chore Board which she made based off of this original design and tutorial from Today’s Fabulous Finds. Love. at. first. sight.
It was simple. Streamlined. Inexpensive. Easy. All the things I loved.
What I love about this DIY Chore Board
- It was an easy project – doable for even the most novice do-it-yourself-er.
- The materials were inexpensive, some of which I had on hand.
- This Chore Board is simple, efficient, customizable and will grow with my family.
- It also looks great hanging on the wall.
What I did differently on my Chore Board
- I used a larger board – 6″ x 24″
- I used scrapbooking letter stickers and then decoupaged to seal instead of stenciling.
- I added more hooks to mine to help me organize chores that needed to be assigned.
- I placed all of my hooks on the face of the board instead of putting some on the underside.
- I hand printed my chore tags with a fine tip sharpie.
How I saved money on supplies
- I used a FREE paint sample I got from Lowe’s.
- I bought the letters at 50% off at Hobby Lobby.
- The bronze spray paint for the cup hooks was 40% off at Hobby Lobby.
- The cup hooks, modge podge and and ribbon to hang it with all came from my craft closet.
How to use this chore board
- Label your tags with tasks to be completed
- Assign each child their tasks by hanging the tag on the top hook under their name.
- When child completes the chore, they move the tag to the bottom hook.
- Parent knows to inspect any jobs hanging on the bottom hook.
- In our home, if a child moved the chore tag to a bottom hook without completing the chore, they received an additional chore as a consequence for laziness and dishonesty.
Now that my kids are teenagers, we no longer use this system simply because I don’t have to monitor as much any more. However, it certainly served it’s purpose while we need it.
What tools do you use for assigning and tracking household chores?
Wonderful – would nails at an angle work? or screws?
What is your procedure for “inspecting what you are expecting” from their chores?
Hi Lynn,
I think nails at an angle or screws would both work. As long as you have something for your tags to hang on and not fall off easily.
When the kids complete a chore, they move that tag to the bottom hook under their name. Most often, mornings are chore time so they are not allowed free time until all their chores are completed. On days where we have things scheduled first off, we assign an hour in the afternoons for chore time. If I see them taking free time before chores are completed, I add another chore. When all tags for one kid are on the bottom hook, I inspect and have them finish or redo as necessary. If they are dishonest and move their tags to the complete hook without actually doing the chore, I assign extra chores as consequences for being dishonest. I do not penalize for a less than perfect job, but rather focus on willing attitude and 100% effort.