Teaching your kids to be responsible starts when you give them responsibilities. And it is never too early to give them chores. In fact simple chores for preschoolers give young kids a break from their monotonous daily activities, and teaches them responsibility too. As they say, long as they can already talk and understand what you tell them, they can already take part in household chores.
Apart from teaching them to be responsible, giving them tasks makes them feel important in the house. Simple Chores for Preschoolers also becomes a good way of teaching them, and even an opportunity for you to test or give them basic knowledge in counting, colors, letters and the like.
And while they take longer to do a certain task, it will be worth it because apart from being able to teach them, you also get to bond with them. They key here is to give them the task ahead of the time you will need the output. For instance, if you will ask them to sort cloths so you can do the laundry, ask them to do so an hour before you actually do the laundry so that you will not be waiting and losing patience in the process.
Here’s a short list of simple chores for preschoolers:
1. Sort laundry. Since most toddlers already know colors, you can easily tell them to separate the whites, the black and blue, and then the other colored clothes before you load them in the washing machine
2. Stock the pantry. Toddlers love playing with food boxes and cans. So why not ask them to stock your pantry? This is fairly easy to do, and is a good opportunity to teach them about counting.
3. Unload groceries from the bags. This is my eldest daughter’s favorite chore. She loves opening those cartons, and paper bags of groceries and arranging them in our food cabinet and even in the refrigerator. And although she takes longer, and the items are not arranged the way I like it, I am just glad I have someone who puts it away for me while I change my other kid’s oiled nappy.
4. Set the table. If you are the type of family to use paper plastic plates then by all means allow your kid to help you set the table. It helps them recognize item sets, and allows them to practice their counting skills.
5. Put away the dishes in the sink. Since we mostly use paper plates in the house, and plastic plates for the kiddos, this is something that my preschooler can easily do. She dumps all the disposables in the kitchen trash can, and puts on the sink the utensils, and other reusable items.
6. Remove the leaves from veggies. When you cook Sinigang or any meal that uses leafy vegetables, why not allow your kid to help you remove the leaves from the stalks? This way they get to think that they helped in the cooking. And you may even be able to persuade them to eat their greens.
7. Pick-up their toys. This is something that should be automatic for kids. They should know how to clear the living room or the playroom from the toys that they played with once play time is over. Give them a big box to dump all their toys so that it will be easier for them to clean up.
8. Fetch Diapers or any other items you may need for a younger child. Teach your older child responsibility by asking them to ‘help’ you out in taking care of his younger sibling. This also helps in lessening jealousy.
9. Arranging shoes in the shoe rack – Designate your kid as the family member who has to make sure that all shoes are in the she rack. This task can also double up as an opportunity for them to put into practice the concept of pairing.
10. The Human Egg Beater – Kids just love it when you allow them to help in the kitchen. It makes them feel like an adult. One task that you an make them do is to beat eggs – of course ask them to wash their hands after, and to never taste raw eggs to avoid salmonella.
Now that you have an idea what chores you can actually ask your preschooler to do, begin giving them responsibilities so they could apply practical preschool lessons into their daily lives.
