into the pan.
Tip the dirt into the bin, into the bin (repeat)
Tip and tip and tip and tip
Tip the dirt into the bin, into the bin.
Remember to give praise and tell your child what a good helper they are – even though you may well have to re-do the sweeping they attempted after they’ve scooted off to do something else. They’ll definitely be back for more, and gradually their sweeping (and broom-flying) skills will improve.
Washing up
Washing up is often seen as one of the more tedious chores for grown ups. Despite this, young children seem to find it a real treat. When I asked via social media which chores are children’s favourites, washing up came out on top. Of course we can’t get our under-fives to scour pans, safely wash cutlery or clean the best china, but they will easily and enthusiastically manage plastic plates, bowls, cups and wooden utensils.
Invest in an extra washing-up bowl, washing-up brush and a sponge or cloth so that they can sometimes wash up as you do. Just set it all up nearby – either on the floor (with an old towel underneath to prevent slips) or on a low table that they can stand at. You won’t be able to rely on their skill at cleaning, but you can rely on their skill at playing. To them, washing up means a sensory play opportunity; they’ll splish-and-splash in the warm, bubbly water for ages – pouring and swirling, scooping and wiping. And if some of the lunch things get clean in the process – that’s a bonus! They’ll still think they’re washing up whether the items are spotless or not. Young children are more likely to stay interested in washing up if you keep it as an occasional activity that’s different to other water-based play. Offering it as a grown-up job, to help you, is all part of its irresistible charm, it seems.
Dishwasher
If your household has a dishwasher, you can still get your little one to help with the dishes; they’ll happily help load it with the dirty stuff or empty it of its sparkly clean contents as long as you make the process fun.
Set yourselves a challenge – can the dishwasher be emptied before a certain song on the radio finishes? Your toddler could help by collecting the non-breakables.
Play a spotting game where
all of the dirty or clean cups, then forks, then bowls and so on are identified by the children and put away by the grown up. Do this against the clock and you’ll have a really fun game on your hands.
Setting and clearing the table
Setting the table can be a fun activity for young children. When my daughter turned four, she went through a phase of turning our dining table into a restaurant every time I asked if anyone would like to do the job. She would make a central flower arrangement, menus, place cards – the lot! This became quite time-consuming in the end, so I had to make sure I asked at least twenty minutes before the meal was actually ready, but it did mean that she happily, and creatively, took on the task.
Make a ‘let’s pretend’ cafe:
Make some personalised placemats; trace around the shapes of where the plate, cup and cutlery should go if your children find it hard to remember. Decorate large paper doilies or A4 paper for temporary mats (or if you have access to a laminator, cover them and they will last longer and be wipeable) with drawings, stickers or pictures cut from magazines.
It’s fun and useful for young children to remember where everybody sits and to think about what the family needs to use during the meal. If they’re feeling particularly creative, let them make place cards, or a menu, or whatever they wish, to create the desired ambiance.
Mealtime rituals and routines differ vastly from family to family, but quite commonly the end of the meal is often the time when children seem to magically disappear and the grown ups are left with the devastation that is the post-dinner dining table. You can occasionally involve the little ones in clearing up the mess with some fun and games, however. For example:
Clear the table with your children helping as best they can alongside, in the manner of robots or fairies, magicians or monsters.
Make some attractive and tactile ‘job stones’ to pick out of a cloth bag to allocate tasks. These are easy to make by painting, drawing or sticking pictures from magazines onto smallish pebbles with PVA glue. Each stone’s picture should represent one of the jobs required to clear the table, for example: collect cups, cutlery, plates and bowls, wipe the table and sweep the floor. The aim is to empty the bag of stones – and complete the jobs – before going off to play something else.
Offer an incentive of a game or some other playful activity at the table once it has been cleared. This can be a real motivator for children of all ages; it’s an example of the When/Then technique (see
here).
Making beds
Making the beds is a daily chore that usually takes us grown ups mere seconds in the modern world of duvets, however, small children can find bedding incredibly cumbersome and heavy to manoeuvre. You can still include them, though, by allocating them aspects of the job that they can manage.
Start by making it a job you do together – you could shake and straighten the duvet while your little one plumps and places the pillow.
Young children love to arrange bedtime soft toys. This can be made even more fun with a song:
There was one in the bed
There was one in the bed
And the little one said, ‘Roll over, roll over.’
So he rolled over and another popped in,
Cuddled up tight, and gave a grin
‘Please remember to tie a knot in your pyjamas,
Single beds are only made for one, two. . .’
Continue with ‘three . . . four . . . in the bed’ until all the toys are in position.
Changing the sheets
This is not usually a daily chore, but it still fills some parents with dread – especially if their children have reached the bunk-bed or cabin-bed phase; I know how difficult it is to get the sheets into those bed corners. However, try these playful activities and include your children when you can, and you may even look forward to sheet-changing day.
Have a game of ‘pile-up’. See how quickly you can strip the beds – your child does the pillowcases, you do everything else. The person who finishes their job first gets to ‘flomp’ into the big pile of discarded linen.
‘Monkeys on the bed.’ We have a rule in our house that this
