Chores For Toddlers

Most days my house has the appearance of what I call “twin tornado.” There’s a mixture of toys, clothes, dishes, random objects… pretty much anything they run around the house with thrown everywhere. Just to keep up with picking up the clutter is exhausting in itself, let alone actually getting any cleaning done.  As soon as they started following directions, I had an idea. “hmmmm I should put these little house destroyers to work!” Especially since my daughter loves to “help out,” I began to brainstorm chores for toddlers that I thought they both could handle and make it a part of our daily schedule.

Emptying the Dishwasher

Emptying the dishes, cups and silverware and handing them to me is one of their favorite activities. They are usually fighting over who gets what, and love to put away their own silverware into the storage cups. I’ve even trained them well enough at this point to put the wet things in the dish drainer to dry. I try to beat them to all the sharp objects and breakable items to avoid accidents.

Putting Away Toys

Cleaning up their toys is definitely a skill they are capable of, just not one that happens as often as I’d like. I like to put on trolls and sing while we clean, or we do an acapella version of the Daniel Tiger clean up song. They still need A TON of direction for this, and constant loud encouragement. As soon as we start cleaning, they are suddenly exhausted or hungry and try to escape from doing it. Somehow I get left in the playroom alone. Work in progress.

Cleaning up Clothes

Convincing my toddlers to put clothes into the hamper is an easy task. Laundry folding on the other hand….. be prepared to re-do all their “help,” or have them re-do all of your hard work. I like to let them help me sort clean clothes, watch me fold and put away.

Cleaning up Spills

My daughter is a huge fan of being a “big helper.” Any time something spills to the floor, she usually rushes to the kitchen to grab the kitchen towel is kept draped over the oven handle. Often she needs a follow up to her wipe-down, but at least she is making an effort! Especially when you are baking or cooking with them, make sure to start having them help with cleaning up as you go too!

Dusting & Washing Windows

Since I began using Norwex, I’ve been feeling great about letting the kids help clean up without toxic chemicals. The dusting mit I earned from hosting a party is a little big for a toddler, but fun to put on and swipe around! The window cloth is great to get wet and clean up our sliding glass door that constantly has little finger prints or smeared food across it. I like knowing that they are actually helping to clean the house, rather than just smearing the dirt around.

Have fun with it!

Make big clean up jobs around the house fun! Turn on a timer, so the end is in sight and crank up the music! The kids love to rock out to the Trolls soundtrack while we clean up the playroom. I usually try to work clean up time into our regular schedule, some days it works better than others. My goal is to get them on the path to helping with the house as soon as possible! It’s been a struggle for me to keep up with the house in general so having 2 extra sets of hands (even if they are small), is sometimes something for me to celebrate.

What chores for toddlers do you use at your house?

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