Little Helpers
Digital Chores List
Take photos of your child doing a chore. Print photo and place it next to a written list of chores. Some good examples are make bed, feed fish, set table, put utensils away, dust. This will help you to create an easy and fun reminder or your child's responsibilities around the house.(read more)
Pretend Grocery Store
Set up a room in your house like a grocery store. Put some of your kids' favorite foods on tables and other low pieces of furniture -- these will make the aisles of the grocery store. Then give your kids something to use as a basket. My youngest uses his little push walker with a small basket in the back. My oldest has a picnic basket. ...(read more)
Choose-a-Chore
Toddlers love to 'help' around the house. A great way to teach them to help with chores and enjoy them at the same time is to turn them into a game. Let your child choose a chore to help with (e.g. laundry or unloading the dishwasher). For laundry, ask them to sort the clothes by color, dark colors in one pile, and whites in the other. ...(read more)
Alphabet Clean-Up
Here's a fun way to get kids to clean up and learn their ABC's. When it's time to clean up say, "Find two things that start with the letter 'C' and put it in your toy box" or "Let's put away the train. What letter does train start with?" Go through all the letters until the toys are put away.(read more)
Tricycle Wash
Let your child 'wash' his or her 'car.' Kids enjoy washing their ride-on cars and scooters, and this will entertain them for at least 15-30 minutes. Keep an eye on the little ones if they may drink soapy water. You also don't have to use soap -- this activity is just as much fun with only the garden hose(read more)
List Your Day
Here is a behavior management strategy that is working well with my almost-5-year-old. After a few episodes of eye rolling and loud sighing on my daughter's part, I decided we needed a way to document our days and how much of them were filled with things she wanted to do, not just my chores. At the beginning of the day, we write a list together of what our ...(read more)
123 Clean Up
Here's an idea to help your child clean up and learn how to count at the same time. Say, "Let's put two things in the toy box" or "Let's put eight things in the toy box." Pick numbers that your child can count to. As they learn higher numbers, have them count more toys to help them learn (and have the clean up go faster).(read more)
Paper Chef's Hat
Make a paper chef hat for your preschooler using a large piece of paper and tape. Begin by sizing the piece of paper to your child's head, and then let them decorate the paper. Once they've finished decorating, tape the paper to the right size and place it upon your little chef's head. Voila! Dinner is served!(read more)
Laundry Fun
Get a large bowl. Have your child fill the bowl with water and add a small amount of soap -- either laundry detergent or dish soap will work fine. Then let your child wash some of their doll or teddy bear clothes and hang them on a mini washing line to dry.(read more)
"I'm a Great Helper" Coupon Book
To help your child realize what a help they can be to us grown ups, make it fun by creating a 'coupon' book of things they can do or 'give' to us. Take blank white 8 1/2 x 11 paper or construction paper and fold in half. To create the coupon book, cut the paper along the fold and then staple the paper together along the short side. Then, come ...(read more)
Dishwasher Sorting
My son loves to play with the dishwasher while I am cooking dinner. When the dishwasher is clean, I put all of his plastic spoons and forks in the silverware holder and let him practice taking them in and out. I also include our stainless steel spoons since he loves 'big people' items. He can sit there and play for up to an hour sorting and resorting ...(read more)
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Before we had kids, we might have said that the best sound in the world was waves crashing. Or a champagne cork popping. Nothing against the ocean or a bottle of bubbly, but now we know for sure: the best sound
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