Age-Appropriate Chores for Kids 5 to 10: The Full List

You know your kids could help more around the house. The hard part is knowing what is fair to ask. Is a 5 year old too young to set the table? Can a 7 year old be trusted to feed the cat? Should your 10 year old be cooking yet? This guide gives you a clear list of chores by age, plus simple ways to make them stick without daily arguments.

Kids aged 5 can make their bed, tidy toys, set the table and feed a pet. Kids aged 6 to 7 can add sorting laundry, watering plants and packing their school bag. Kids aged 8 to 10 can vacuum, put away groceries, fold their own laundry and help cook. Start with two or three daily jobs and build up.

Why do chores matter for kids aged 5 to 10?

Chores are not just about getting the house clean. They teach children that they are a useful part of the family, not guests in it. A child who sets the table every night learns that other people are counting on them.

There is also some early research linking chores to thinking skills. A 2022 study of children aged 5 to 13, based on parent reports, found that children who did more self-care and family-care chores tended to have stronger working memory and self-control. The authors are careful to say this shows a link, not proof that chores cause the gain. Still, it makes sense: a chore asks a child to remember steps, stay on task and finish what they started.

The American Academy of Pediatrics puts it simply on its parent site: age-appropriate chores are an important part of a child's development, and a chore chart or checklist helps make them a normal part of family life.

Chores by age at a glance

Use this table as a starting point, not a rulebook. Every child is different. A careful 6 year old might be ready for jobs on the next list, while a dreamy 9 year old might need a few more months on the easier ones.

Age	Self-care chores	Family chores
5	Make bed (roughly), put dirty clothes in the hamper, get dressed, brush teeth without reminders, put shoes away	Tidy toys, set the table, clear own plate, feed a pet, put spoons and cups away, match socks
6 to 7	Pack school bag, lay out tomorrow's clothes, tidy bedroom, hang up coat and towel	Sort laundry by color, water plants, empty small wastebaskets, wipe the table, bring in the mail, help unload the dishwasher (no knives)
8 to 10	Fold and put away own laundry, make a simple snack or breakfast, keep their room tidy without help, manage their own homework bag	Vacuum a room, put away groceries, sweep, help cook dinner, take out recycling, walk the dog with an adult nearby, load the dishwasher

These lists line up closely with the AAP's guide to age-appropriate chores, which also suggests jobs such as raking leaves, dusting and washing plastic dishes for the 5 to 7 group.

What chores should a 5 year old be able to do?

At five, the goal is not a spotless result. It is the habit of helping. Choose jobs with a clear start and end that your child can see. "Put all the cars in the blue box" works. "Tidy your room" is too big and too vague.

Good chores for a 5 year old:

• Make their bed by pulling up the comforter and putting the pillow on top
• Put dirty clothes in the laundry basket
• Tidy toys into labelled boxes
• Set the table with napkins, cups and spoons
• Carry their plate to the kitchen after meals
• Feed the family pet (with you measuring the food)
• Match socks from the clean washing

Take Zaim, who is five. His morning job is to make his bed and put his pajamas under the pillow. The bed is lumpy. That is fine. He did it himself, and he is proud of it. Fixing it later would teach him the opposite lesson.

What chores can a 7 year old do at home?

Six and seven year olds can follow a short sequence of steps and remember them from day to day. This is a good age to give them a job that is truly theirs, so the family notices if it is not done.

Good chores for a 6 or 7 year old:

• Pack their school bag the night before
• Sort laundry into lights and darks
• Water the plants once or twice a week
• Empty bathroom and bedroom wastebaskets into the main trash
• Wipe the table after dinner
• Unload cutlery and plastic items from the dishwasher
• Help put away groceries at their height

Sara, who is seven, owns "table duty". She sets it before dinner and wipes it after. She does not get asked each night. It is simply her job, the same way the dishes are her dad's job. That sense of ownership does more than any reminder ever could.

What chores should a 10 year old do?

By eight to ten, most children can do real household jobs with only a little checking. They can also start learning small life skills: cooking, caring for clothes and planning ahead.

Good chores for an 8, 9 or 10 year old:

• Vacuum their bedroom or the living room
• Fold their own clean clothes and put them away
• Make a simple breakfast or snack
• Help cook one family meal a week (with you nearby for heat and knives)
• Put away the groceries
• Take out the recycling on trash day
• Load the dishwasher
• Walk the dog with an adult

Yusuf, who is ten, has a weekly "chef night". He picks a simple recipe, helps write the shopping list and makes it with his mum. It started as a chore. Now it is the part of the week he talks about most.

How many chores should a child have a day?

Less than you might think. A long list looks good on paper but tends to collapse by Wednesday. A rough guide that works for most families:

• Age 5: two or three small daily jobs, around 10 minutes in total
• Age 6 to 7: three or four daily jobs, around 10 to 15 minutes
• Age 8 to 10: three to five daily jobs plus one bigger weekly job, around 15 to 30 minutes

Start smaller than this. Two jobs done every day for a month are worth more than eight jobs done twice. Once a habit is solid, add one more.

Should younger and older siblings get the same chores?

Not the same chores, but the same idea: everyone helps, at their own level. Kids are quick to spot unfairness, so explain it simply. "You are older, so you get the bigger jobs and you earn more for them."

A few ideas that keep things fair:

• Pair them up. The older child loads the dishwasher while the younger one puts away cutlery.
• Rotate shared jobs. Swap who feeds the pet each week so nobody is stuck with it.
• Reward effort, not size. A five year old who makes their bed every morning deserves the same praise as a ten year old who vacuums.
• Let the older one teach. Showing a younger sibling how to fold a towel builds pride and patience.

How do you get kids to do chores without nagging?

Nagging usually means the system lives in your head instead of somewhere your child can see it. Move it out of your head and the reminders get easier.

1. Make chores visible. A chart, a checklist or an app shows what needs doing so you do not have to say it.
2. Link chores to a time of day. "After breakfast, make your bed" is easier to remember than "make your bed sometime".
3. Teach it once, properly. Do it together, then watch them do it, then let them do it alone.
4. Use one short prompt. "What's next on your list?" works better than a lecture.
5. Notice when it is done. Specific praise, like "You put every shoe on the rack," shows you saw the effort.
6. Add a small reward for building the habit. Stars or points that add up to a family treat can help, especially in the first few weeks.

Rewards can help or backfire depending on how you use them. We cover this in more detail in Do reward charts work?, and you can see how to build a simple system in how to set up a points system for kids.

Is it OK to use a chore chart for kids with ADHD?

Many parents of children with ADHD find a visual chart helpful, because it takes the memory load off the child. A CHADD research summary notes that parents of children with ADHD often report their kids need more support and reminders to finish chores. That is not laziness. It is the skill being harder for them.

Some general ideas that often help:

• Break jobs into tiny steps ("put books on the shelf" rather than "tidy room")
• Use pictures as well as words
• Keep the list short and the same each day
• Give quick, frequent recognition rather than one big reward at the end of the week

Every child is different. If your child has ADHD, autism or another additional need, talk to their doctor or specialist about what kind of structure and rewards suit them best.

How MamaPoints helps

MamaPoints turns your chore list into something kids can see and tick off themselves. You plan chores and routines in the parent app. Your child opens the MamaPoints Kids app, taps "I did it!" and can add a photo of the made bed or the set table. You approve with one tap, and stars go straight to their balance. They save those stars for rewards your family picks together, like a movie night or a trip to the park.

Kids join with a six-character family code, so there are no child accounts to set up and no ads. See how it works.

Start small this week

Pick two chores from your child's age group. Show them how to do each one. Put the jobs somewhere they can see them, and link each one to a time of day. Then let the result be imperfect. A lumpy bed made by a proud five year old is exactly what success looks like at this stage.