parenting

How to Make Summer Chores Fun

parentinghome management

I don't know about you but I've redesigned our chore chart more times than I can count. This summer, I've finally found an easy way to mix up our regular chore chart and get the kids motivated to help around the house. We've snuck in a few extra chores and the kids still think it's all part of the summer fun!

If your kids want to do chores about as much as you want to clean up the trail of sand from the sandbox to your kitchen sink, it's time to try something new. I'm always hoping we will land on the perfect chore chart that will make everyone do all the things I ask but this never seems to happen. Especially during the summer when the daily routine can be anything but!

To keep the kids guessing and keep our list of chores fresh and fun, I've devised a quick and easy system to get my kids to help around the house. It involves very little preparation and next to no supplies... two of my favorite things!

How to make a chore jar - Simple mason jar and secret chore tasks

1. At the beginning of every day, decide what chores you need done for that day and gather your supplies (only 3 things!).

Supplies for a secret chore non-chart - jar, white paper, crayon

2. Write those chores on small white pieces of paper with a white crayon.

Writing with white crayon on the chore jar papers

3. Drop the papers in a jar or bowl and let the kids each pick a paper or two or three, depending on how many chores they are responsible for each day.

4. In order to find out their daily chores they will have to color over the papers they picked with a marker. As they color, their "secret chore" will be revealed and they will be more excited about what chore they picked than they ever were before.

Revealing the secret chore of the day!

My kids love this so much that they truly forget the secret message they chose is a chore. There are exclamations of "I got vacuum!" and "I get to clean the table!" heard all around the house. One of my favorite things about this method is that you can change it by the day according to what you need done and it keeps away the monotony, especially on summer days!

Vacuum chore card - secret message for summer fun

What method do you use to get your kids to do extra chores in the summer? If you try out our Chore Jar let me know how it works for you!

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Jessica Watson is the mom to five, four in her arms and one in her heart. When she's not doing the minivan shuffle she's homeschooling her kiddos and cooking things they won't eat. She blogs with her heart on her sleeve at Four Plus an Angel, co-directs Listen To Your Mother Metro Detroit and writes for sites such as Huffington Post, Mamalode and SheKnows.

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