Our chore system.... done!

I finally finished our little chore system* on the side of the fridge, so here are some more photos.

The three older kids (11, 9 and 8) have the envelopes.  Here are their envelopes all ready for a day of chores:

The details:  I used index cards, then covered them with clear contact paper.  Each card is marked with the child's name and a symbol in the top left-hand corner to indicate morning, noon and evening chores.  As they complete their chores they'll move cards to their "done" envelopes.  Then either after chores are completed that evening or the following morning, the whole stack can be moved back to the "to do" envelope for another day of chores.

Here is a close-up of Ella's chores, as an example.  In the morning she'll be doing a load of laundry and tidying up the laundry room area and doing her living room assignment (each of the kids has one: hers is the clear the mantel and tidy the shoes).  In the afternoons she'll fold a load of laundry and do her living room assignment again and in the evenings she'll clean the kitchen with the boys.

And I just now realized as I see this photo that I forgot to also give the kids their living room assignments in the evenings- that was my original plan.  Sigh.  Well, we'll see how it goes.  Maybe we'll do a general 5-minute cleanup before read-alouds.  Or maybe I'll add another evening card.

For the younger girls (5 and 4), I went back to an old standby.   I had made a "Do... done" chart very similar to this when my older kids were younger.  It's just a little more accessible and visual for them.

The details: Their chores all have simple little pictures and I put them on cardstock and then covered them with clear contact paper.  They have sticky magnets on the back.  As they finish a chore, they can physically move it to the other side: the "done" side.

Honestly, it might have been easier to just do the envelopes for all of the kids, but I was a little sentimental about the little girls having the same chore system as the older kids had had-- we loved this one!-- and I knew they'd like moving their little chores over to the done side, and it is more visual- and there's less shuffling through of cards for their little hands.  So.  There you have it.

Audra (4) has the same three chores for morning, afternoon and evening.  Pretty basic, but these are her first "official" chores, so while she's been a helper up until now, she hasn't had to do anything.  She's a good little worker, though- so I have a few other ideas and may add more when she gets the hang of it.)

I'm happy to answer any questions in the comments!



*There is one other part of our chore system that I'll share soon, too- as soon as I take a photo of it.