Help your 6 and 7 year old learn life skills with these chores! Each job is easy enough that they should be able to do them by themselves. Also includes helpful chore tips!
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If your kids are anything like ours, they probably don’t jump up and down at the mention of doing chores. In fact, if our kids are anything close to normal, you are likely often met with groans instead.
But even though helping our children learn to do chores and keeping after them to get them done can be a lot of work sometimes, my husband and I still feel like it is very much worth it.
To us, having our children do chores is about more than simply having them make our workload lighter (although that sure is nice!).
Our ultimate goal in having our children do chores is to have them learn important life skills, while at the same time learning things like responsibility, perseverance, the satisfaction of a job well done and how to be thorough.
But before I dive into the list of chores, first let me share a few important tips:
- Don’t expect your child to understand how to do something without being shown how to do it. Take the time to explain what you expect and also to show them exactly what you want done.
- Be patient. They are going to mess up when they are learning and will probably need to be reminded of how to do their jobs well as they go along too. I often need to remind myself that our son is only seven- I can’t expect him to do things as well as an adult!
- Praise your child liberally. Even if the job wasn’t done perfectly but you can tell they were doing their best, shower them with encouragement. I find that the more I thank our children and praise them for doing their jobs well, the more they try to do their jobs thoroughly and with a good attitude. Funny how that works!
I should note that our child never does all of these chores in one day. Rather, this is the list that we choose from when it’s time for him to do chores, or the things that I have him do when I need some help.
He also still does many of the things from the 10 Chores for 4 & 5 Year Olds list too.
10 Chores for 6 and 7 Year Olds
1. DUST
For us, dusting includes removing everything from a surface, dusting it all and then putting it all back.
So although your child may be able to do this chore before he is 6, I was a little hesitant to have our son start before he was 7 because I have a number of things sitting around that are fragile or difficult to move easily (for example, lamps).
It just seemed easier to wait until he was a bit older to have him start this chore.
A feather duster is a great way to make dusting easy for a child. My mom always had me use one when I dusted and as a result, I thought it was a fun chore!
2. WASH AND DRY DISHES
Having a dishwasher has made this a job that isn’t given as often as it probably could be at our house, mostly because the dishes that are left to hand wash are either big dishes or fragile things.
But by the time a child is 6, they should be able to wash at least a small amount of dishes and dry them, if you choose not to let them air dry.
Be prepared to show your child how to wash things thoroughly and also how to stack things in the drainer so that they can dry well.
For our 7 yr. old, once he got the hang of stacking things, he thought it was kind of fun because it was sort of like putting a puzzle together.
Unfortunately, it apparently isn’t fun enough to make him want to offer to do this job without being asked! 🙂
3. WIPE OFF THE TABLE
Our 7 yr. old has been helping to clear the table for several years now. But we waited until he was 6 to have him start wiping down the table, simply because we wanted to wait until he was capable of wiping the table well without just putting the crumbs from the table all over the floor.
It was important to us that he learn to wipe it in such a way that at least most of the crumbs were contained the rag that he was using to wipe up the table.
He definitely doesn’t do it without a few crumbs hitting the floor, but overall, he’s able to do a decent job.
Unless your child is more thorough than ours though, you may want to have them wipe the table down at least twice to make sure that it gets squeaky clean!
4. WATER PLANTS
This is one job- and maybe the only job- that we barely have to ask our son to do.
For obvious reasons, he especially loves when we let him water the outside plants with the garden hose! But since we live in the city and need to pay for our water, that doesn’t happen very often and he usually needs to use a watering can instead (this smaller one is easier for kids to handle).
5. PULL WEEDS
This is a job that can quickly feel overwhelming to a child, so we usually just assign them a small section at a time to make it feel more manageable.
6. YARD WORK
This job varies a lot but will involve anything from picking up sticks, raking leaves and grass clippings (a small rake like this
makes it easier!), to simply putting away outside toys.
7. GET THE MAIL
We live in the city and our mail is delivered through the mail slot in our door, so for us, getting the mail is actually a job that our toddler can do.
But by the age of 6, a child should be capable of getting the mail from a mailbox, unless of course, you live along a super busy road or down a long lane.
8. FOLD LAUNDRY & PUT IT AWAY
Our son started folding washcloths, rags, underwear and socks when he was 4.
But around the time he turned 6 we started having him also fold his pants, as well as some of the kid’s shirts.
9. CLEAN THEIR ROOM
We recently started having our son clean his room every Saturday morning.
Basically, this involves putting everything in order, dusting and then vacuuming. I still find that I need to sometimes drop in and clean a bit more thoroughly, but overall, he does a pretty good job!
10. HELP FEED YOUNGER CHILDREN
Before his sister learned to feed herself, I often had our son, who was then 6, feed her the yogurt or whatever food she was eating.
Most of the time, he actually enjoyed doing this chore and it often turned into a time of being silly with his baby sister, which was really precious.
What chores do you give your kids? Let me know in the comments below!
Denise Renae says
Hey! I love this post. My 2 yr old feeds my baby baby food or the bottle, my 3 & 5 year old fold wash (wash cloths, underwear & pants) and put their clothes away, my 5 year is now learning to wash dishes (my 2 yr old tries to dry), and my 3 yr old cleans up the floor. I love the idea of teaching them young to help out around the house. It does take time and work, but its worth it once they obtain the skill! Thanks for this post!
ThriftyFrugalMom says
Wow, Denise, that is impressive! I find for myself that the hardest part is taking the time to work with them to teach them…that and dealing with the mess that occurs sometimes. 🙂 But like you said, it’s so worth it and it’s been nice to be able to hand over some of my work here and there. Plus, the accomplishment that they feel when they do a job well is so fun to see!
Leslie says
Thanks for sharing. Great list! We just came in from pulling weeds. My six-year-old is actually quite independent in folding laundry and putting it away, so I would add laundry to the list.
ThriftyFrugalMom says
Thanks, Leslie! I love that your 6 year old is your laundry helper. Isn’t it great to see them learning skills like that and getting a little boost to your work load as well? Our kids help with folding laundry too (it’s on my chore list for 4 & 5 year olds which is why I didn’t include it here). It’s funny though, because our 4 1/2 yr. old finds it easier to fold kid’s pants and shirts and does a neater job than our 7 yr. old. Obviously, each child is different and it’s been helpful for me to remember that!
Ranan Lachman says
The secret is to make any task seem like fun and they’re gonna be up to it. Naming it a chore makes them feel like it’s just work!
ThriftyFrugalMom says
Yes, making a task seem like fun can go a long way in helping kids enjoy learning to work! And while I’m not opposed to calling jobs something other than chores, I also have no problem referring to them as chores. Because let’s face it, working is going to always be a part of our life, so we might as well help our kid’s get used to that idea, right? 🙂
Carey B says
Hi,
I am curious if you do any type of reward system for their chores? Our 6 yr old daughter has been allowed to get away with not doing much for too long :). She helps here and there when asked, but it is not consistent. I love your post here, and gathered some great ideas to get her started. Do you use a chore chart, or are these things part of a list you mentally keep up with? Thanks so much!
ThriftyFrugalMom says
Hey Carey, so happy to hear that this post helped you brainstorm and get ideas! We don’t use any type of reward system, but I don’t necessarily think that’s wrong to do, especially if you are getting started with this. We do sometimes offer a reward for a job well done or if we can tell that the child was really trying to work hard etc. Or we’ll say that if everyone works hard to say help clean the house in the morning, then after lunch we can watch a movie (we do very little screen time so that’s a special reward for them).
And no, I haven’t done any type of chore chart, but I keep wanting to! I think it would help make things easier and also possibly give our kids the chance to do their chores more on their own, which would be good in helping them learn more about taking initiative. Mostly, I just haven’t take the time to figure out something that works well for us.
Joe Sutton says
I am making a chart fro my kid (7) and it really works because he is one of those lazy kids!
ThriftyFrugalMom says
I hope the chart is a success!
Sharon says
When my sister married, I was 11 and became the babysitter for our 4 younger bored brothers & sisters. I had a lot of chores, so I created a “Job Jar.” It’s the only way I could get things done & have them help and not get into trouble.
ThriftyFrugalMom says
You sound like a creative big sister! So did the job jar have a list of all the jobs that needed to be done and then you pulled them out as it was chore time?
Valerie says
Hello Im adopting and raising 3 of my grandchildren. A 7 yr old boy, 6yr & 2 yr old girls. I was having trouble getting their attention when the older ones were getting rambunctious & it was making me yell like a banshee. I took a step back and realized I was not doing things right. I started over by sitting them all down & asking them what was the best way to get their attention. Funny thing was was they both told me that when their teachers were trying to get all the kids calmed the yelled, QUIET PLEASE!! or PLEASE TAKE YOUR SEATS! Well Ive decided that instead of screaming at them after the first attempt that i would walk over to the chore & praise board & ring a tiny little bell I have. If the don’t stop what they are doing & give me their attention & I ring the bell again then they lose .50 cents of their $10.00 allowance. With the making of the chore list they now get to go to walmart at the beginning of the month & they are learning about responsibilities & rewards & the feeling of accomplishment. At the end of your 10 chores post I found a link for 50 things your child might like for under $10.00 which was really cool. Now Im still experimenting with all this & will welcome any helpful hints or suggestions. Just try to be nice with criticisms cuz I’m a big sissy lala. Lol just joking. ???
ThriftyFrugalMom says
No criticism here, Valerie. I absolutely love this! You sound like such a creative, good Grandma. It can be so easy to get in the habit of raising our voice to get our kid’s attention and the whole bell idea is genius! I might need to implement a variation of that for my own kiddos because I could see it working really well.