Household
Chore Chart Maker
Build a chore chart around your household, not someone else’s. List the chores or the people, choose a weekly or monthly grid, and print a chart with tick boxes, shaded rows and a rewards panel.
Four steps
How to make a chore chart
- 1
Choose the grid
Weekly for most households; monthly for chores that happen occasionally.
- 2
List the chores
Type one chore per line, or switch rows to family members instead.
- 3
Add the extras
Turn on the rewards panel and name field if you use a reward system.
- 4
Print and display it
Print the PDF and put it where everyone will see it — the fridge works.
Why chore charts fail, and how to stop it
Most charts die in week three. The pattern is nearly always the same: too many chores, too vague, and nobody actually looks at the chart after the first few days.
- Fewer chores than you want. Four or five per child. A chart with fifteen rows is a chart nobody reads.
- Make each one unambiguous. “Tidy your room” invites negotiation; “clothes in the basket, books on the shelf, floor clear” does not.
- Put it where the chore happens. Kitchen chores on the fridge, bedroom chores on the bedroom door.
- Review it at a fixed time. Sunday evening, same time every week. A chart nobody checks is decoration.
Age-appropriate chores
| Age | Chores |
|---|---|
| 2–4 | Put toys away, clothes in the basket, help set the table |
| 5–7 | Make the bed, feed a pet, clear their plate, water plants |
| 8–11 | Load and empty the dishwasher, take out rubbish, vacuum, fold laundry |
| 12–14 | Cook a simple meal, do a full laundry load, clean a bathroom |
| 15+ | Meal planning, food shopping, mow the lawn, deep cleaning |
Two chart layouts, two purposes
Rows as chores gives you one sheet per person — best when children have different responsibilities, or when you want a chart that goes on their own door.
Rows as people puts the whole household on one page. Best when everyone shares a rota and you want the comparison visible, which is either a powerful motivator or a source of arguments depending on your children.
Making it last
Laminate the chart or slide it into a plastic wallet and use dry-wipe markers. One printout then lasts the whole year, and there is a small ceremony in wiping it clean each Sunday that helps mark the reset.
Print at 100% scale so the tick boxes stay square, and increase the margin to 20 mm if you plan to punch and file the sheets.
Related household printables
The meal planner covers the week’s dinners and generates the grocery list alongside it, the to-do list maker handles one-off jobs, the habit tracker is the personal version of this chart, and the monthly calendar keeps the family’s fixed commitments in one place.
Answers