How to Encourage Toddler Chores

Small children love to help and my daughter is no exception. Recently she has become quite the little helper and she will watch and follow me as I do the cleaning, creating mischief on the way of course. I think its great that she is always willing to help and I want to build on that by making it a FUN and fulfilling experience for her. Furthermore by 'starting her young' will help her become more independent as she takes on a few responsibilities. Don't worry I don't leave her to it whilst I binge on Netflix... not yet anyway! I will only encourage if she wants to.


THE THREE THINGS THAT I HAD TO KEEP IN MIND WHEN I FIRST INTRODUCED TODDLER CHORES FROM DAY ONE...

Make it FUN!

So with a little inspiration from Pinterest we created a game that would encourage Amelia to become more hands on. I completely forgot that we bought our daughter the Melissa & Doug Cleaning Mop and Broom Set for Christmas. In all honesty it was ironically collecting dust in the living room and she would only be interested in pulling the cleaning set apart to try and eat the fluff off the mop! Why do toddlers eat fluff? Any so let's try and make it fun...

The materials you will need are: 

Melissa & Doug Cleaning Set
Electrical Tape
Pom Poms 

That's it!


The game is pretty simple. Before you begin, make a square shape on the floor using your tape - the first square I made was far too small so make sure yours is big enough. But we both had a square so we were both really happy.


I then gave my daughter a few pom poms so she could throw them, not before trying to eat the of course. Then the fun could begin. I then tried to show my daughter what she needed to do and to get the broom to sweep the pom poms into the square and use the dust pan and brush to tidy them away. 


After she got over the excitement of the pom poms and trying to eat them AGAIN she began to sweep them into the square box, and began to really enjoy sweeping them away.


The main goal was to try and encourage our daughter to get involved with chores by making it fun and now she has become the greatest little helper. Whenever I get the mop, duster or vacuum out she is more than happy to take over - she loves vacuuming but has a tendency to have a meltdown if I touch the vacuum or if I put it away. It's something we are working on! 


Expectations

My daughter has been getting involved with our chores a lot more and she is actually helping me. Yesterday while I was arranging our anniversary flowers lots of petals fell on the floor and she began to put the in the bin all on her own. I handed her a dust pan and brush to make it easier to clean up but I was quite proud that she did that all by herself - proud mummy! So I have been thinking that now would be the perfect time to explain that the few chores she does have are solely her responsibility and that these would need to be done everyday as a part of the family routine. 

Practice makes perfect

Everyday we will eat our breakfast, watch cartoons, get dressed and then begin our daily household chores - we have so many giggles doing them together. Most days she is eager to get her Melissa & Doug cleaning set out or get her hands on the vacuum and she is wanting to do more each day. So practice makes perfect.

What toddler chores do you give your children? Do they have a favourite? I'd love to hear all about it.

18 comments

  1. Aww how lovely that Amelia wants to help.I really need to encourage my threenager more but so far she is very reluctant :-) #fabfridaypost

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    1. Maybe try a broom and some Pom poms...she may love it. Honestly this little game kept Amelia occupied for ages! Thank you so much for stopping by and for your comments x

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  2. Aww... This is so sweet. I agree wit you on practice makes perfect. I always asked my 5 years old to put this bowl in the sink after breakfast and now he does it even without asking. One day, Amelia will do the sam - as she is already is doing so. ;) Thank you very much for linking with us on #FabFridayPost

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    1. Thank you so much for hosting, I have really enjoyed reading some of the posts that have linked up. Thank you for your comments.

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  3. My 2yr old is obsessed with washing up ad hoovering. I don't know why as I don't do it very often! It always seems that my girls want to tidy up when we are just about to do something else but when I ask them to tidy up they are too busy/tired/bored!!! #binkylinky

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    1. Oh dear...on one occasion when I asked Amelia to put her Bing Bunny you away - she wouldn't have any of it. I couldn't help but laugh,lol. Thank you so much for your comments and stopping by! x

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  4. Such a clever idea! So going to do the same with ours too (my wife is a total stickler for mess)! #FabFridayPost

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    1. Oh yes, definitely give it a go. I am sure your little one will love it! Thank you so much for stopping by and your comments.

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  5. Wonderful ideas great post Thanks for linking to the #binkylinky

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    1. Ahh thank you so much. Thank you for hosting and your comments x

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  6. Great idea. I always encouraged my daughter to help and from a young age I'd make tidying up fun or give her a spare duster and she'd follow me round. Whether this lasts when she's a teenager I don't know!! #bestandworst

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    1. Oh I don't know about that one we were all teenagers once. Lol. Thank you for your comments x

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  7. I can see my little girl loving this in a couple of months. At the moment she loves copying everything I do. Her favourites are dusting, putting washing on the radiator, putting rubbish in the bin and tidying her toys away! #bestandworst

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    1. Oh wow she seems to be doing very well, clever little girl. Thank you so much for your comments and for stopping by! x

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  8. Mine still gets mad if we don't let her help. Doesn't matter what it is, she needs to be involved

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  9. My girls are so different! One quite likes helping out with chores, whereas the other just likes to make the mess, but not the tidying up after! Thanks for linking up to the #BinkyLinky

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  10. This is a great idea :) I would have so done this with Monkey if I had thought of it. It looks like she really enjoyed it. Maybe if I had done something like this with Monkey he wouldn't just be intent on getting loads of toys out and then leaving them sprawled across the floor!! Thank you for joining us at #BloggerClubUK hope to see you again next week x

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  11. What a great way to get children involved! Alfie loves to help me with the hoovering, if only his hoover actually worked, ha! Thanks for linking up #bestandworst

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