Chore Incentive Ideas

 By Dawn Salisbury

Chores. We all have to do them, but do we necessarily like doing them? How do we teach our children to do chores, and cheerfully at that? Here are some ideas for motivating your children.

M&Ms: I made up some mason jars with their name on them and a line to mark their goal. I used a fabric  top with a slit cut into it, and secured with the ring. For every job they did, cheerfully, they get one M&M. For catching them telling the truth, sharing, helping others, and being obedient, they get two M&Ms. I’ve started out with peanut M&Ms, since they are bigger and I want them to feel successful by seeing fast results: their M&Ms piling up because of good behavior.

Stickers: We are using these for potty training. This is still a work in progress, since I have one child that refuses to set foot in the bathroom, let alone sit on a potty. Unless the kids are very small, I have found older kids don’t enjoy the generic stickers. However, you can still use stickers for older kids. Have them make a book out of wax paper and construction paper (construction paper is the cover). As they earn stickers let them pick out stickers for jobs well done, schoolwork completed, or behavior, and store them in their books.

Points: The way this works is by earning some points for privileges. Each chore is assigned a number of points. As they complete the chores, the points add up. So, let’s say you have 10 chores at 10 points each, they have earned 100 points. 80 points gets time outside, 100 points gets TV time, 120 points gets computer game time, 140 points gets an extra trip to the library.  

Chore Race: This has been mentioned here before from Shiloah, but I’ll add it here too. Put all the chores on slips of paper in a jar and each person draws a chore. They need to keep their chore slip until the end. The person with the most chores wins a prize.

Hide and Clean: Assign one child to a room to clean. Hide a piece of candy or coin somewhere in the room. They have to clean the room to find the prize. Instant reward!

Chore Styles:

Factory: Everyone works in one room at a time, working until everything is in order.

Early Bird: First person up and dressed gets their pick of chores.

Rotating Schedule: Assign daily or weekly chores that get rotated on Sunday. Also can be worked that someone gets a day off during the week.

Teams: Assign a younger child to an older child. The older child teaches the younger child a new skill and has a partner to work with.