Simple Ways to Make Chores More Fun

With three daycare locations, serving dozens of children, we know the importance of keeping work and play spaces clean and free of clutter. In an effort to teach personal responsibility while ensuring safe and efficient classrooms, we task our students with engaging in chores throughout the day. By embracing the fun side of tidying up, we strive to foster the concepts of teamwork and cooperation. With that being said, our preschool and daycare teachers and staff have become adept at making classroom chores fun. Here are some of their best tips that you can try at home to get your kids to believe that chores can be fun:

• Time them – Kids often like to be challenged to see just how well or fast they can do a particular task. Get out a stopwatch and let them know that you’re going to time just how fast they can clean up their toys or make their bed and then write down the time so you can both work to beat that time the next day.
• Act like an animal – Ask your kids, “how would an elephant pick up those toys,” or “how would an eagle help me clean up the dinner dishes”. Stay away from using slithering or slow animals in order to get the best, most effective, results.
• Dance and sing – Music makes almost any chore tolerable. Incorporate your kid’s favorite upbeat tunes and get to dancing. This is effective while sweeping or mopping or even just folding laundry.
• Limit their abilities – Tell them that the challenge during this chore is to do it using only their left hand or they have to hop on one leg while doing it. Cleaning up the clothes off their bedroom floor or setting the kitchen table take on more of an entertainment aspect while creating great family memories.

Let your child come up with their own ideas of what would make weeding the garden or putting away the dishes more fun for them. Try not to scoff and let them get creative with it.