Please note this is post is not called “10 chores toddlers can do on their own”, nor “How to have a clean house with toddlers”. No, no , no. I haven’t figured that one out. I can tell you, however about things that toddlers will love to join you in doing around the house. To a child, there is little better than feeling useful in their family. Here are ways you can include your toddler:
Unload Dishes and Silverware- I quickly unload any knives to get them out of temptation zone. I then put all plastic dishes onto the front of the dishwasher door and ask my toddler to put them away. She knows the bottom drawers is HER drawer and she love to toss them in there. The silverware requires me to tidy up afterwards, but my one year old feels quite proud of her ability to carry the silverware basket over to the drawer and unload it.- Watering- Just know the water only has a 50/50 chance of going precisely where you want it to…
- Laundry- loading the washer is fun, pulling out and loading the dryer is fun too!
- Bring this to…Your toddler might get distracted on the way, but many times they love being a messenger. Bringing big brother his shirt or bringing Daddy his book are fun toddler missions.
- Pushing buttons! Yes! Buttons! Woo Hoo!
- Carrying This! Got a light grocery bag? Or maybe you need help with your purse…
- Wiping things off- I’m betting your toddler helps make more than a few messes. Go ahead and hand him a towel to wipe up. Or spritz the window or cupboard fronts with a little safe cleaner and let him help wipe away the bubbles.
- Stirring and pouring- You may have to allow a little extra cooking time if you include your toddler, but if you are able to do so, your little assistant will quickly catch on to how to help you make pancakes or cookies.
- Close it up! Toddlers love to open and close doors, let them do it for you!
- Put this in here! As I mentioned in my post about 4 words to remember for toddler activities, toddlers love to stash things. For many kids it’s as much fun to toss blocks into a basket as it was to dump them out. For my toddler, she particularly loves picking up little things. When I spilled a box of screws the other day, she was truly a great helper putting them back in the box with me.
Good luck including your toddler in the things you need to get done around the house! Remember they’ll do best if you tell them what TO do rather than what NOT to do, and remember all of this is new, new NEW to them, so they may take a little longer than you would.
It may take longer, but it really is worth it. When we can show our kids ways that they can contribute to our family, we are able to connect with them during everyday situations, and we help them gain confidence and self worth.
OK, get to work! 
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My son likes to “fold” laundry. I fold his clothes and he puts them in the drawers. The drawers are a mess and the crumpled clothes don’t always come out looking great, but he LOVES doing this with me. It is worth it!
Love this post! I totally agree with you, kids love being included.
We’ve done this with my daughter since she was very little, now my kids are 4.5 and 2.5, and they are really great helpers! Within normal developmental limitations of course…
It took me a while to organise our house but now everything has its own spot, so the kids know where everything goes and they can help putting their toys and things away; and we try to do all the tidying up together as a family, so the kids understand that everybody needs to chip in to keep the house looking nice, that it doesn’t just happen by magic…
Not technically a chore, but still a way to get them involved in running the household, is to get them to pay at the shops: I always make sure to carry lots of $1 coins, so if I’m buying something that costs only a couple of dollars, I give them the money to pay for it. It’s a great way to introduce the value of money and counting skills, as well as being empowering because they feel responsible and involved and grown up, and they also get to interact with shopkeepers etc which is great for their social skills.
Love your blog
This is great – I agree there are so many things that they can help us with. So far this morning I have had help with bed making – it’s a lot of fun to pull off the duvet and shake it with mummy, then unloading and loading the dishwasher/washing machine and had a little helper pegging the clothes on the line.
I don’t advise though the help I got when I cleaned my windows which T decided would be great to lick off the vinegar that I was using for cleaning – YUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Awesome ideas. My kids do all those jobs but some others they like are putting their clothes away since each of them have their own colored bins I just fold them first then the oldest 4 tells the youngest 20 months where hers go. They also like getting a spray bottle and finding spots on the floor to clean up. Oh and another one is giving them a window cloth and letting them climb up to clean the windows!
They love to help out around the house and I love the help.
Great ideas, and easy to implement!
My kids like to fold laundry also, i hate doing the socks, so i let them help. It’s a good learning tool matching up between colors, textures, patterns. They need help putting them together, but its worth it
The things I always forget are that my older kids really like some of the chores too. We’re finally getting in a better rhythm of them putting away their own laundry, and they really like that. Also they love to help me mop because they get to slide around on rags.
Great ideas. My 2 year old loves helping with the silverware, and now she has started wanting to help with EVERYTHING! Good attitude! These are great jobs for her.
Lindsey @ GrowingKidsMinistry.com
So true! It’s amazing how many “fun” things we do as part of every day’s “work” I love to let my 21 mth old help stir, and butter pans and put groceries away. It’s definitely worth the little extra time it takes to have her help.
And the sense of empowerment they get is amazing – you can SEE how pleased they are to be a productive member of the household. I was building shelves the other day and my 20 month old daughter was “in charge” of the screws. I was afraid it would end in disaster, but she plopped all the screw in every hole so it was there when I needed it. It wasn’t just ‘fake helping’, it was real, and I think she knew the difference.
She also loves dusting with a feather duster. And scrubbing the sink! (Although I hate how much water she wastes now that she can reach the faucet – anyone else have a solution for this?)
My sons (18 months) love to help carry groceries from the front door to the kitchen. We plop the bags on the floor and they proudly tote each item in to the kitchen and help put it away in the right place. One is even a little macho man and is always grabbing the heavy stuff first.
We live in a wintery place and they know it is their job to put away their hats, gloves, extra socks, shoes, fleece and snowsuit once we get home.
They love helping cook too! The other day we made squash bread because dinner was prepared and they were definitely not done pouring and mixing ingredients. Oh and vacuuming is a big favorite too.
Having them help is the only way I can get chores done while they are awake so it is perfect that they like it so much.
My son is only a year but we have already started on this – he is the light switcher, and although it is slow going sometimes, especially when all the lights need to go out before we leave the house, he gets mad if someone else does it! So even younger kids can get involved if you scale down and find something on their level or that you can carry them to.
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