Overview: Do want your kids to do chores but aren’t sure which tasks your child could handle? Check out this age appropriate chore list for children 2 years to 3 years!
You might think that it’s way too early to ask your 2 or 3-year-old to do chores. But at this age, children can really start to become helpful around the house. The earlier they start doing chores, the earlier they will be able to master these tasks. And the best part is that kids this age are actually eager to help you with anything, which isn’t always the case when they get older.
See below for an age-appropriate chore list for children 2 years to 3 years:
In Their Room
- Hang clothes on hooks.
- Help make the bed (pull covers up).
- Picking up toys and books, beginning skills of learning to put items in their proper place
- Put clothes into the hamper.
- Pick up their bedroom.
- Undress and dress self with some help.
The Rest of the House
- Brush teeth (may need assistance)
- Carry groceries in from the car (give the child one light item or a small bag).
- Carry boxed or canned goods from the grocery sacks to the proper shelf.
- Clean up what they drop after eating.
- Cleaning up after himself/herself after meals (i.e. taking dishes to sink, helping clean off the table)
- Do simple errands (“Take this towel and put it in the hamper”, etc.).
- Dust with socks on their hands or by holding a cloth.
- Empty bathroom trash cans.
- Fill the pet’s food dish.
- Fix a bowl of cereal – will need help with the milk.
- Help pick up the living room.
- Help set the table (put utensils and napkins on the table).
- Help wipe up messes.
- Help with meal preparations (learn to measure, stir and use small appliances).
- Helping with laundry, such as: helping sort dirty clothes by color, handing the clothes to mom to put in the washer, transferring clothes from the dryer into a laundry basket, folding the socks and washcloths.
- Mop in areas with help.
- Pour from a small pitcher with help.
- Put away clean utensils.
- Put books and magazines on a rack/shelf.
- Putting shoe/coat in their proper place
- Slightly more complicated errands (continue to use easy directions), such as: “throw these clothes into the hamper”, “put this dirty cup in the sink”. The child should be able to attempt a chore when asked to.
- Take laundry to the laundry room.
- Wash and dry hands and face
- Water plants.
In the Yard
- Bring in the newspaper.
- Clean yard (collect trash and toys, sweep with child size broom etc.).
- Get the mail.
- Help clean out the car.
- Help wash the car.
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- Simple help with groceries, such as: putting items in shopping cart, helping put items on the check-out conveyor, handing items to you to be put away at home.
- Beginning Etiquette
- Make thank you and birthday cards.
You’ll also want to check out my Age Appropriate Chore Lists for other age groups as this list builds upon the ones created for younger age groups.
I’ve also created a FREE, 15-page Chores Pack which is filled with chores list suggestions for the various age groups. It also contains several different chore chart templates to choose from. You can edit these chore charts online and then print them out. Or print blank copies first and then fill them in by hand. The choice is yours!
You can receive access to this FREE chore pack by subscribing below.
Question: How about you? What types of chores have your toddlers been able to successfully tackle? How has giving your child chores helped to build their character? Please leave a comment below.
One note: when starting to address chores with young ones, nothing encourages success more than modeling and working beside the child helping him to do well.
Not doing it “for” him but “WITH” him.
Definitely! I completely agree. I talk about that in my blog post https://www.homeschool-your-boys.com/should-kids-do-chores.html if you haven’t seen that one. 🙂
My 2 yr old is love with the vaccuum! Lol
So I recently started to let him do it with help of course . and he also puts the dishes in the sink that I ask him to.
That’s a great way to start, Bree! Good job!
My daughter is going to be two in August. She loves to copy everything I do so I started giving her small tasks to do like: putting her toys and books away, blowing her own nose, throwing things in the trash and helping put clothes in the dryer. I came here for more ideas 🙂 thanks for the post!
You’re welcome! Yes, take advantage of her desire to copy you and spend time with you and then just keep building on it. Before you know it, she’ll be helping out with all sorts of household tasks. Good job starting her training early!
My son who is 3 helped me take laundry to washer at 2, now he helps me gather trash for trash day. I will be making a list and having him do more.
I am 64 year old mother of two and grandmother of three. One daughter had attention deficit disorder early on and it was a big task for me to keep her busy and on course. I had both kids help with bringing groceries into house and into pantry, dustpan and brush to keep floor clean, laundry basket of their own and general basket where they sorted clothes/towels. Self care is also a part of being aware and taking care of yourself like bubble baths, clipping nails, brushing teeth, keeping face clean and hair combed, washing hands (more often than they think they need to! Like before/after dinner etc) they liked to help wash car or dust/ clean inside. They especially liked to help me outside as I love to garden. We would plant seeds, flowers, clean up weeds, raking mulch or leaves, watering. Or I just gave them a trowel and an area of dirt with some containers or rocks and they would dig to their hearts content. Now my daughter has a little guy who needs to be kept busy and he too likes to help grandma outside and inside. I’ve had him helping me roll out dough for cookies and buns and decorating them. He’s seen the beginning of recipes to the end and enjoys seeing and eating the fruits of his labor. He always gets to take some home and chatters on about what fun, how delicious. I think parents hold back on some things thinking it will be a big mess for them but these kids do need to do and experience these things to feel proud, confident and understand how things work. It builds compassion and wisdom which you are probably not thinking in those respects for a two/three year old but you can help them later in life by starting those links now. I don’t mind play dough all over the place but my other daughter abhors her kids playing with play dough because to her it’s messy and too much to clean up. It’s unfortunate life has to be like that because these are the learning years. These are the creative years. Put yourself aside and let these kids help with chores and have some fun. To me it was always and continues to be worth it to be able to spend some fun quality time, as well as keep them occupied just to buy myself some free time or quiet time. Sometimes we need to let go of our quirks/control in order to help our kids learn and grow into competent, confident adults.
Yes, Chris, this is SO TRUE!!! Letting our kids doing these chores does help them to feel “proud and confident” and helps them “understand how things work.” I love your comment! Thank-you so much for sharing your experience with us. Great tips!!!
My 4 year old son (and now also my 2 year old daughter) love helping to unpack from grocery shopping. Thankfully over the course of two years that they have been actively helping, they have only flattened one package of hot dog rolls. Not broken jars of jelly or crushed cookies.
That’s good news!