Free tool
Chore chart by age
Add your kids, and get chores each one is actually old enough for — rotated across the week so nobody draws the same job two days running, and nobody catches every chore on a Monday.
Who’s in the house?
Which chores are in play?
A starter set — tap to add or drop any of them. Chores only appear once someone in the house is old enough, and each one rotates just among the children who are.
This week
| Chore | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Put toys away | Age 7 | Age 12 | Age 7 | Age 12 | Age 7 | Age 12 | Age 7 |
| Clothes in the hamper | Age 12 | Age 7 | Age 12 | Age 7 | Age 12 | Age 7 | Age 12 |
| Make their bed | Age 7 | Age 12 | Age 7 | Age 12 | Age 7 | Age 12 | Age 7 |
| Set the table | Age 12 | Age 7 | Age 12 | Age 7 | Age 12 | Age 7 | Age 12 |
| Unload the dishwasher | Age 12 | Age 12 | Age 12 | Age 12 | Age 12 | Age 12 | Age 12 |
| Vacuum living areas | Age 12 | Age 12 | Age 12 | Age 12 | Age 12 | Age 12 | Age 12 |
| Clean a bathroom | Age 12 | Age 12 | Age 12 | Age 12 | Age 12 | Age 12 | Age 12 |
| Cook a simple meal | Age 12 | Age 12 | Age 12 | Age 12 | Age 12 | Age 12 | Age 12 |
Your older children are carrying most of this, because they’re eligible for more of the chores you picked. That’s the failure mode worth watching — the oldest quietly inheriting every hard job. Add a few chores from the younger tiers, or drop some of the older ones.
This is one week
The rotation only works if it keeps running — and a schedule that lives somewhere everyone forgets to look isn’t a system. Haven runs this every week, puts today’s job on each kid’s own screen, and shifts the cycle when somebody’s away.
Age-appropriate chores, ages 3 to 17
Five tiers. Treat them as a floor rather than a bracket — a fourteen-year-old setting the table is fine; a four-year-old mowing the lawn is not.
Ages 3–5: the Helper tier
Jobs done alongside you. The point isn't the work getting done, it's the habit of joining in.
- Put toys back in their bins (one bin at a time)
- Put dirty clothes in the hamper
- Set napkins or forks at the dinner table
- Wipe up a spill (with your help on the toughest spots)
- Feed a pet (you measure the food, they pour it)
- Put their own shoes by the door
Ages 6–8: the Routine tier
Jobs they can own daily without being walked through them, provided the standard stays reasonable.
- Make their own bed (loose standards — pulled up, not military corners)
- Set the full table for dinner
- Clear their own plate after meals
- Feed pets on a schedule
- Wipe down the bathroom counter
- Sort their own laundry into colors and whites
- Water houseplants
- Empty bedroom trash into the kitchen bin
Ages 9–11: the Solo tier
Jobs they can finish start to finish without supervision, and that genuinely help the household.
- Unload the dishwasher entirely (you load, they unload — or vice versa)
- Vacuum the main living areas
- Take out the trash and recycling
- Sweep or Swiffer hard floors
- Fold their own laundry (and put it away)
- Pack their own school lunch (you set the rules; they execute)
- Make a simple breakfast on the weekend (cereal, toast, fruit)
- Walk the dog (in safe neighborhoods)
- Clean their own room weekly to adult-acceptable standards
Ages 12–14: the Owner tier
Jobs where they own an outcome rather than a task — including things the household actually depends on.
- Clean a full bathroom (toilet, tub, sink, floor)
- Cook simple meals — pasta, rice, scrambled eggs, sandwiches, grilled cheese
- Do their own laundry start to finish
- Load and unload the dishwasher
- Mow the lawn (after one supervised session)
- Watch younger siblings for short stretches (30–60 min)
- Take responsibility for one weekly shared chore (vacuuming, trash, dishes)
- Bring in groceries from the car and put them away
Ages 15–17: the Adult-ish tier
Jobs that look like running a household, because in two years they will be running one.
- Cook a real dinner from a recipe (twice a week is a great target)
- Deep-clean any room in the house
- Manage their own schedule, appointments, and deadlines
- Babysit younger siblings for longer stretches
- Do grocery runs (with a list — older teens with a license)
- Handle their own paperwork (school forms, permission slips)
- Take ownership of a weekly household role — owns dinner Wednesdays, owns laundry Sundays
- Drive younger siblings to activities (with a license)
Why it rotates instead of sitting still
A list of chores is the easy half. The half that decides whether it survives past week three is who does what, when — and whether that feels fair. Two rules do most of the work.
Rotate within ability, not across it. Each chore above only ever goes to a child old enough for its tier. You aren’t pretending the five-year-old and the fifteen-year-old are doing equivalent work; each gets ownership at their own level, and the specific job moves around so it doesn’t go stale.
Stagger where each chore starts. If every chore opens on the same child, that child catches all of them on the same day. Offsetting each chore by one position in the rotation fans them out, so with no more chores than children nobody doubles up until everyone has had a turn. That’s the same calculation Haven runs for real households — this page just shows one week of it.
Common questions
What chores can a 4-year-old do?
Jobs done alongside you rather than instead of you: putting toys back in their bins one at a time, dirty clothes in the hamper, napkins or forks on the table, feeding a pet while you measure the food, and their own shoes by the door. The point at this age isn't the work getting done — it's the habit of joining in.
What chores are appropriate for a 12-year-old?
Twelve is where kids can own an outcome rather than a task: cleaning a full bathroom, cooking simple meals, doing their own laundry start to finish, loading and unloading the dishwasher, and taking responsibility for one weekly shared chore the household actually depends on.
How do you set chores for kids of different ages?
Build tiers based on what each child can genuinely do, then rotate jobs within each tier so nothing goes stale. Don't pretend a five-year-old and a fifteen-year-old are doing equivalent work — give each of them ownership at their own level. Watch that the oldest doesn't quietly inherit every hard job.
How often should chores rotate?
Small daily jobs — dishes, trash, feeding pets — do well rotating day to day. Bigger weekly jobs like bathrooms or laundry work better as a weekly shift where one child owns an area for the whole week. Most families end up running both at once rather than forcing everything into one rotation.
How do you make a chore rotation fair?
Stagger where each chore starts in the rotation. If every chore begins on the same child, that child catches all of them on the same day — the version most families accidentally build, and the one everyone resents. Offsetting each chore by one position fans them out so no child doubles up until everyone has had a turn.
What happens when a kid is sick or away on their day?
Decide the rule before it happens, or it becomes an argument every time. The cleanest version: whoever is next up covers the missed day, and the child who was away doubles up next time the coverer is out. Because it's reciprocal, it takes the heat out of it.
Keep reading
The full guides go deeper on which chores belong at which age, and on the five rotation systems families actually run.
Age-appropriate chores, ages 3 to 17 →Five chore rotation systems that stay fair →Work out allowance to go with it →